Baking stores can supply Diorama pieces...

Yes, them Cake Decorations can be reused as diorama pieces. I've rambled a lot about action figure displays and dioramas.

COLUMNS!!!

First Item on the list is the rather obvious and popular Cake Pillars. They come in different sizes and they can be easily painted to fit your needs. The taller Pillars as you can see are taller than a MOTUC Figure (about 10 inches or 25 cm) They're not taller than the old school Joes (the 12 inch joes or barbies) but they work for most action figures. The green one is one I painted to use as an orb holder for King Grayskull's magical energy orb (long before Temple of Darkness Sorceress came to be). The pillar used to be white, but now is green with a metallic black wash... to give it a Castle Grayskull inspired vibe. The taller Pillars may become part of another Grayskull Inspired Diorama or an Eternos Palace Inspired Diorama... Still not sure. They cost about $5.

railings... Chain not included

 I also got some railings. Yeah, they seem to be better suited for 3.75" figures (Joe vs Cobra, Marvel Universe, Star Wars) but they can be used with larger figures as smaller railings (as seen with some shorter rails that people CAN jump over but should not.) You just need to look at what you can use AS is and what you can work with to make something cool... But be realistic about your skill level. Don't expect to make something look like it came from the Four Horsemen if you never sculpted before.

 The following displays have been made with stuff found lying around and some pre-made stuff  like "gems" from arts and craft stores, Wands for Princess or Fairy themed Birthdays, Repainted Incense burners, Christmas decorations and junk... It's not really to showcase my abilities as a diorama maker cause I'm a beginner. It's to show that a little stuff can improve displays. Now this is going from just using pre-made stuff to MAKING Stuff... don't worry it'll make sense in the end...

Dragon Grotto diorama

The first one is my Dragon Grotto which was intended to be a Diorama for Draego-Man. (It made an appearance in one or 2 It Came from the Toy Chest) Sadly, I enjoy having Draego in my main display that this one has become my Horde Place holder Diorama Until I finish the Slime Pit part of my Fright Zone display... Last attempt at a Slime Pit broke because of Structural issues on the Dino pieces and back wall.

This was made with Foam Boards, a Dragon shaped Incense Burner (repainted gold) and a few "Gemstones" glued together to form crystals.

Light Hope really works! Action Features!!

This one was a bit more complicated... This is my Light Hope... It involved making a diorama around a touch light. A Piece of Styrofoam and a foamboard make the "area surrounding Light Hope. Everything else is foamboards with gems glued randomly after painting the display with glittery paints. to get that shimmery Girly vibe to Light Hope. I added a Wand to both walls to use as "pillars" that look "girly". The hardest part was disassembling the Touch light and "customizing it" to make everything fit snugly inside Light Hope. (changing the reflective material inside so it could "glow" in a pinkish hue. Lots of trial and error here.)

Best part of this Christmas Special, no annoying Children or Dildocopters!

Now this one is my oldest diorama, which has been used on some It Came from the Toy Chest. This was basically 3 foamboards taped together after scoring the rock pattern (I spent one whole afternoon on that) and painted. The Christmas stuff were 2 trees that light up that I saw on Wal Mart. The couch is custom made out of Styrofoam and Paper Towels (originally made for my NECA TMNT) the garlands are just metallic chenille stems. The door is foamboard surrounded by Crayola Model Magic.

Fright Zone... Bit more than I could chew!

The last one is A Fright Zone... Like the caption says I bit more than I could Chew.

The Wall with the Torches is actually a block of Styrofoam from a Washer Machine The rest is a combination of Foam Boars, Styrofoam and Balsa Wood. Some odds and ends are caps from air freshner oil bottles, the plastic bits that held Battle Cat and Panthor together. Some coat hangers taped together (More like taped the tips and then I kinda made most of the body with tape.and covered in hot glue to make the Tree. Lots of paper Towels and toilet Paper to make a sort of Papier Mache thing. Everything was covered in liquid plastic (after the paper dried up to stop the solvents from the liquid plastic eating the foam...)  Incomplete since the Slime Pit half got busted and I have to rebuild it. (I have the technology...)

Now what does this have to do with Pre-made stuff that I can find on stores that sell baking supplies?

Simple! 3 10" Columns (Like the ones shown above), 2 Foam Boards, some Aquarium plants, a lot of red and pink paints, some glue and you can make your very own Eternos Palace Courtyard corner diorama. It will not be 100% Cartoon accurate, but easy enough for a beginner to make.

Cut two 10" high pieces out of foam board. They will be the walls. Remember to use a straight blade and a ruler to make the cuts. Cover the edges with Masking tape. Glue Column to one end of one wall. Do the same thing to the other wall. You complete the corner by cluing the last column to both walls and making it a corner piece. The Aquarium plants are a nice premade substitute to the alien looking Eternian plants... (you may have to repaint the aquarium plants. Remember that repainting them makes them unsuitable to be used on an Aquarium.)
With the Corner already made cut the third piece to make a floor for the diorama. Paint the walls and floor in the reddish-kinda pinkish colors of the Eternos Palace Courtyard. Let it dry (48 hours is a best guess.)  If you have a paint sealer, now is the time to apply it. Let it dry for a day beyond what the instructions say, just to be sure. Put the plants near the wall (glue to the floor if needed) and there you have an Eternos Palace Courtyard made without any sculpting required. Just a little basic painting.

That's just one Idea and something rather simple. Now I'm tempted to check Aquarium plants to do this myself... The point is, while companies are playing the "logistics" game and not getting us playsets or diorama pieces; we CAN get these if we think Outside the box or inside the Chimney...


*ahem!* as I was saying. Look for stuff that Can Be useful and may not require anything too far beyond your skill level at "arts and crafting"...

 

custom sculpt for a custom Grayskull shell made by ZombihammaAI

When you reach the level that you can make your own Castle Grayskull and make Mattel's castle look puny, Congraturatyion you have reached the HOLY CRAP! Level!!

But if you haven't reached that level yet, you can cheat a little bit and get the rough shape of the castle with pre-made stuff... Now this would require some sculpting skills.
PVC Pipes can work as towers. A Hard Plastic Skull Mask can help you get most of the skull shape out of the way. Bigger canine teeth would have to be sculpted though.

The thing is that if you can get certain items and find ways to work with them (either as is with just a repaint or sculpting on top of it) you CAN make cool backdrops to spice up your displays if the company making the toys won't do any dioramas.