The Art Scale system, and why it changes how you collect
Most statues are bought one at a time and displayed one at a time. Iron Studios designed theirs to connect: the bases of Art Scale pieces from the same line are built to sit together, so a Thanos bought this year and an Iron Man bought next year form one continuous diorama rather than two separate objects competing for shelf space.
That changes the economics of collecting more than it sounds like it should. At 1/10, a piece typically stands around 20–25cm — small enough that any of IKEA's current glass cabinets holds several per shelf, and priced so that adding one more is a considered purchase rather than a major one. Collectors who would never commit to a single £2,000 statue quite happily build a fifteen-piece scene over three years. It's the most forgiving entry point in premium collecting, and the hardest one to stop.
Above Art Scale, the studio produces larger tiers — Deluxe Art Scale pieces add environment, secondary figures and more elaborate bases at the same 1/10 scale, while Legacy Replica (1/4) and Prime Scale (1/3) move into centrepiece territory. MiniCo sits below everything as a stylised vinyl line — charming, inexpensive, and not what most people mean when they say Iron Studios.
Where Iron Studios sits against the rest
Iron Studios are Brazilian, founded in 2012, and they hold an unusually broad licence portfolio — Marvel and DC, Star Wars, Disney, Universal Monsters, Jurassic Park, anime. That breadth is the point. If you collect across franchises rather than within one, Iron Studios is usually the studio that can furnish the whole shelf in a consistent scale and finish.
Against Prime 1, they are smaller, cheaper and far easier to house. Against Sideshow, they are all-polystone rather than mixed media, and built to be collected in sets rather than as individual centrepieces. Where they win outright is coherence: fifteen Iron Studios pieces look like a collection. Fifteen pieces from five studios look like a shelf.
Reserving, plainly
Lead times here are typically shorter than the top-tier studios — often six to twelve months from announcement — but they still move, and we'd rather set the expectation than manage the complaint. Current estimates are on the release tracker, with the date we last checked each one visible.
You pay a deposit to reserve. The balance is requested when the piece is with us and has passed inspection. The deposit is non-refundable: If you cancel before dispatch we retain 10% of the price — for a deposit reservation, that is the deposit. Where a statutory right to cancel applies it is unaffected. Everything is imported by us through official channels, so the price you see is the price you pay, with VAT and duty already accounted for. The detail is on how reservations work.
Common questions
Do all Art Scale bases connect?
Pieces designed as part of the same line are built to sit together. Across unrelated lines it's less predictable — if you're building a specific scene, ask us before ordering and we'll tell you honestly whether the pieces are intended to pair.
Is 1/10 too small?
It's smaller than photographs suggest — around 20–25cm is a bookshelf object, not a centrepiece. Our scale guide gives real measurements against UK shelving so you can judge it properly before committing.
Are these limited?
Most Art Scale pieces run to larger editions than the top-tier studios, which is part of why they're obtainable. Where an edition size is stated, it's on the product page.
See the full range of open editions.
