UV protective case?

[theultimatebrucelee]

Just thought I'd share an item that I thought was interesting, a few weeks back I got this on Yahoo Japan. I have always been very interested in the collectible accessory department and thought the item looks really cool and I've never seen it before. According to my limited Kanji recognize ability the seller calls this item anti-UV protector. It measures about 18.5inches in length, 13.75 inches in height and about 3/4 inch thick. a two layer stacking the cel in the middle like a sandwich. for weird reason though the bottom layer is about double the thickness of the layer in front of the cel. Two hooks on the backside that makes this hang-able on the wall. Not sure just how effective this would be against light as well as sunlight so I'm gonna hang this on a wall next to windows for some time and test it.





btw, the cel itself is for sale if anyone is interested since I don't currently collect from this series, I have posted this in Market section on rubberslug.

[JWR]

I seriously would not trust the seller as to is the top layer(since they are different tints) is truly UV protective coated. While it might be unless it was verified I would not risk damage to a cel with it.

[ReiTheJelly]

I would test this with a cheap freebie cel before putting anything of value into this frame.

[theultimatebrucelee]

I wonder if it truly is. its been just a few days in my room and so far the cel looks good. testing it out with cheap cel sounds like a good idea, but since I don't collect from this series and this kinda looks cool in the frame I'm thinking about keeping it in for a while. If it doesn't work, oh well I've paid more for the case than the cel inside due to the weight of shipping, so. then again, if it really isn't UV ray protected I'll just use it like a normal frame and put a sketch inside.

[Keropi]

You mean that's the cheapest and worst cel that you own?

No one's giving out freebie cels these days? Lol

I wonder how much a good UV detector costs?

[theultimatebrucelee]

You mean that's the cheapest and worst cel that you own?

haha prably not but honestly I don't know how much this cel would be going for. I did a calculation. the bill to me for this was slight over 100$, and most of it was on the japan domestic shipping, minus the case which I care about, the cel's value is likely under 50$ which I'm not sure by how much. on top of it I don't collect from this series at all so to me its very little value besides stay in the case and looking cool I'm currently too lazy to take the case apart also, not worth the effort yet unless I see some change.

recently I got a little tired with preserving things that cannot be displayed due to fear of damaging. I can't enjoy them while they're stored away and would actually be giving this some value by displaying it. looking at my displayed resin figure collection, I realized that the idea of knowing me owning something is relatively unimportant if its not consistently fortified. it gives me a piece of mind of course, and gives me joy when I take a look at them, but thats definitely not often. there are conflicting feelings here because when I see them available I'll see the NEED to own them. but once they're owned---moving on, whats next? then they'd just sit somewhere collect dust until I get a chance to flip through them again. certainly framing would be good idea on all the good ones I have but, I want to preserve also and would hate to damage them if they're of value especially in cash.

freebie cel would prably cause shipping fee which would be more money I have to spend on something I wouldn't lift a finger on. so why not do something with the money I already spent and don't care much about? responsibility to taking care of the cel until next owner or for cel community as a whole? well, I am the one that paid the most for it.

what would the UV detector be used for

[Matt]

I would be concerned with the paint just sitting against the "glass" even if it is UV protected the "glass" would still heat up and with the "naked" cel pressed between the two, the cel paint would be right ontop of it. With my experience heat has faded cel lines faster than anything. Anytime I framed a cel I always use a mat to keep the glass (UV or not) off the cel and I still store the cel in a bag that is changed every year.. but that is just me.. Otherwise, if it works out it does look very nice

[theultimatebrucelee]

good advise, that's definitely something interesting to think about. I might later on open the thing up and put a cel bag or even double, triple in between cel and the case layers. hopefully that'd help.

[frozentime]

I'm a little confused by some of the comments so far. Is this actually glass or plastic? If it is glass, there are generally a few ways to check for a UV protective coating. However, if it glass, and as thick as that looks, I'm betting that would weight about 10lbs. Most likely it is plastic, especially judging from the color. If it is that thick and acrylic, you have almost no worry about UV. If it is actually marketed as UV safe (not just a buyer claiming that), this is the most likely scenario. There would be no protective coating because it would do it through absorption. If it exposed to high levels of UV though you may see the window cloud over time. If it is polycarbonate, it isn't as UV protective. Polycarbonate transmits much more UV, especially if it has certain buffering agents added. I'm betting it is acrylic and perfectly fine, but I would do as the other recommend and test first. It will take more than a few days though, so I would find direct sunlight. If you really wanted to test it, and had a cel to completely sacrifice, you could put the cel partially in it and monitor the portion hanging out.

[theultimatebrucelee]

this case is definitely made by plastic, its pretty heavy though so prably quite a bit of it. I wouldn't mind testing it by putting it under direct sunlight....yeah, I'll just go ahead and do that and see what happens. thanks for the detailed explanation

[teggacat]

ouch!! I cringe everytime I think about you testing on that Kenshin OVA cel, sure hope the protection works

[star-phoenix]

Very interesting. I saw one person use two UV protective anti-glare plexi-glass from a conservation frame shop and do similar thing like that (they just taped it together rather than screw it together).

Let us know if you test it out and what are the resuls. I would be scared to try it on such a lovely cel. And UV glass is never 100%. So, IF you really want to test it out, you may have to set up a control with a cel directly exposed to sunlight without any UV protection on it. I know, horrible thought!

[theultimatebrucelee]

its currently in front a window but the window is not directly exposed to heavy sunlight due to the extra roof space extended out. I didn't want to put the case directly under sunlight outside my room due to the fear that the case or the coating might get damaged after awhile. for me the case is worth more than the cel so I can't let that happen lol The purpose of this plastic case was so that I can display this inside my room where its somewhat exposed to sunlight or just night light without having to worry about noticeable cel damage.

although I have taken noticed that the lines are fading a bit when looking up close, I'm almost certain that the lines were in better shape when I first got it. either that or the more I scrutinize the more flaws I find lol. I plan to double cel bag the cel and see if that would help if the problem is the heat. I'll attach photo soon, maybe other can help me decided weather the lines are gradually fading or not.

[star-phoenix]

Do you have a scan of the cel before putting it under the sunlight? That would help in comparing it.