Every statue is sold with a scale — 1/10, 1/6, 1/4, 1/3 — and it's the single most useful number on the listing, provided you know what it means. It's also the number most often skimmed past, which is how people end up with a metre of polystone and nowhere to put it. This guide covers what each scale means in centimetres, what the pieces weigh, and — because most guides on this subject were written for a display cabinet IKEA no longer sells in Britain — what you can actually stand them in as of 2026.
How scale works
Scale is a fraction of life size. A six-foot character stands 183cm, so at 1/10 scale the figure itself is around 18cm, at 1/4 around 46cm, at 1/3 around 61cm. Two things push the real product taller than the maths: the base, which on premium pieces is substantial, and the pose. In practice, listed heights run 3 to 15cm over the theoretical figure — so always work from the listed height, which on our product pages includes the base.
| Scale | 6ft character becomes | Typical listed height* | Typical weight | Think of it as |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/10 | 18.3cm | 19–29cm | 1–3kg | A bookshelf object. Several per shelf. |
| 1/6 | 30.5cm | 30–40cm | 2–5kg | One hand-span tall. Two or three per shelf. |
| 1/4 | 45.8cm | 50–71cm | 5–11kg | A centrepiece. One per shelf, if the shelf can take it. |
| 1/3 | 61cm | 71–89cm | ~20kg | Furniture. Needs a surface, not a shelf. |
| 1/2 | 91.5cm | 104–125cm | 17–26kg | Floor-standing. Plan the room around it. |
| 1:1 bust | — | 75–90cm tall, up to 92cm wide | varies | Fails on width before height. Effectively a plinth piece. |
*Ranges from current studio listings: Iron Studios Art Scale 19–29cm; Sideshow Premium Format 50–71cm at 5.4–10.9kg; Prime 1 Museum Masterline 1/3 at 79cm and 19.6kg; Sideshow Legendary Scale Darth Vader at 119cm and 17kg; Queen Studios 1:1 Joker bust 87cm tall by 92cm wide.
The Detolf problem
For fifteen years the default answer to "where do I put my collection" was the IKEA Detolf — £50-ish, glass on all four sides, four compartments. Nearly every scale guide and forum thread still assumes you can buy one. You can't. The Detolf was quietly discontinued and no longer appears on IKEA's UK site; the only route now is second-hand or marked-up third-party sellers.
If you already own Detolfs, the working numbers are: roughly 38cm of internal width, 33cm of depth, and about 36cm of height per compartment as factory-configured — enough for anything 1/10, most 1/6 pieces, and nothing above that. Each glass shelf is rated for around 5kg, so a heavy 1/6 piece belongs on the solid base level, not the glass.
What IKEA actually sells in 2026 — and what each can hold
Measured from IKEA UK's current listings, including the number that matters most and gets read least: the maximum load per glass shelf. Polystone is dense — a 1/4 Premium Format is 5 to 11kg, which is more than most glass shelves are rated for.
| Cabinet | Price | Size (W×D×H) | Load/shelf | 1/10 | 1/6 | 1/4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BLÅLIDEN | £79 (£87 lit) | 35×32×151cm | 3kg | ✓ | light pieces only | ✗ |
| RUDSTA tall | £99 | 42×37×155cm | 5kg | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ (weight) |
| RUDSTA wide | £129 | 80×37×120cm | 9kg | ✓ | ✓ | lighter pieces, base level |
| FABRIKÖR | £129 | 57×47×150cm | 10kg | ✓ | ✓ | most, one per shelf |
| MILSBO tall | £229 | 73×42×175cm | 5kg | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ (weight) |
| BILLY 80cm | £55 | 80×28×202cm | 30kg | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ (28cm depth) |
| KALLAX cube | from £50 | ~33×38×33cm per cube | 13kg | ✓ | ✗ (height) | ✗ |
Reading that table honestly:
- The RUDSTA tall is the Detolf's real successor — near-identical footprint (42×37 against 43×37), £99, three glass shelves. Same limitation too: 5kg per shelf keeps it a 1/10 and 1/6 cabinet.
- The FABRIKÖR is the only glass cabinet IKEA sells that safely takes a 1/4 polystone piece — 10kg per shelf, twice everything else, and lockable. If your collection is heading toward Premium Format territory, this is the one to buy.
- The BILLY paradox: 30kg shelves would carry anything, but 28cm of depth means a 1/4 base physically won't sit on it. Superb for 1/10 ranks; irrelevant above that.
- From 1/3 upward, cabinets stop being the question. A Museum Masterline is ~20kg — no IKEA glass shelf is rated for half of that. These pieces stand on solid furniture, a plinth, or the floor, and the buying decision is about the room, not the cabinet.
Which scale should you actually collect?
The honest answer is the one that fits the space you have — a collection you can display beats a grail in a box. Some rules of thumb:
- Collect across many characters? 1/10 — the maths of shelf space is the whole appeal, and lines like Iron Studios' Art Scale are designed to be displayed together.
- Want presence without furniture decisions? 1/6 is the sweet spot: real detail at arm's length, still two-to-a-shelf.
- Want the piece to stop people at the door? 1/4 — but buy the FABRIKÖR first, or plan an open display, and check the listed depth against your surface.
- 1/3 and up: treat it like buying furniture, because it is. Measure the space, check the floor route from the front door, and remember multi-box deliveries need two people.
One last measuring trick before you order: cut a piece of cardboard to the listed base dimensions and stand it where the statue will live for a week. It sounds absurd. It has saved more collectors than any spreadsheet.
Every statue we list shows its full height, base dimensions and shipping weight on the product page — because this is exactly the decision they exist to inform. If you're unsure whether a specific piece fits a specific spot, ask us and we'll tell you straight. Browse the full range of open editions, or check current dates on the release tracker.