You may have noticed in the background of my Vulture pictures that there is a new background. The old grey factory looking one is gone. It has been dismantled and used for other projects. I liked that background for a long time, which is why I never changed it. The only reason why I’m making this new one is because a white background makes the objects in the pictures look brighter. I didn’t want to use plain paper or boards, so I made a Lego one instead. I had no particular design in mind. Instead, I gathered all the white parts I collected from the local Lego store Pick a Brick wall over the years and put it together.
You’ll notice there are a lot of white chairs. At the time, it didn’t seem like a hot seller because every time I went to the store, it seems that none is ever bought. So I bought a cup. I played around with it and came up with a simple design.
I noticed that the next time I went, there were still a lot of chairs. So I bought more and more until they ran out. The same applies to all the other white parts you see in this diorama. Every single part is from the Lego store Pick a Brick wall.
As an unintended consequence of limiting myself to using only Pick a Brick wall parts, I ended up with a lot of 1x6x4 window frames. I had originally bought a small quantity for my kids to make a building, but the Lego store didn’t carry any window panes to fill them and so I was stuck with them since my kids didn’t want them without window panes. Seeing how they still carried the window frames for months after I bought my first cup, I went and cleaned them out too. The structure holding the chairs sideways isn’t that stable standing on its own. So I used the window frames to support it. Then this neat idea came, the back of this diorama can double up as a minifigure display stand.
Now that the back is used as a minifigure display stand, I now have to rethink how big I want it to be, because it will hold all of my minifigure series. As many of you collectors may know, minifigure series started out with 16 minifigures per series. Nowadays, it’s 12. I don’t think it’s a difficult task to display them, but trying to find a way to display them in a uniform pattern can be a little challenging. This way of doing it seems to be a fun way, for me at least. It sounds expensive, but the regular official display stands cost around $20 if you find it cheap through a third party, and they can only display 8. I have over 20 different series, and a large Pick a Brick cup at the store is $16. Over time, building my own display stand is slightly cheaper. It’s easier to modify and add more.
Finally, it all sits on 2 large gray base plates, with a 1×4 technic brick near the corners to help connect more. This diorama isn’t done yet. Its current design is to just help me to take pictures. It still needs to be a lot bigger. I also have to redo the floor because I plan to install a turntable so that I can spin minifigures and small models around when I make a video of them. This of course, will be the small exception where I don’t use parts strictly from the Pick a Brick wall.