Almost all the hobby and craft stores carry various types of unfinished, wooden plaques and bases (decoupage, etc) in a variety of sizes and shapes. You can also find these in the hobby/craft departments of some of the larger variety sstores. Any or all of these would be cheaper than...
For modeling purposes, 54mm figures will appear closer to 1/32 scale. As an example, some of the older Monogram armor kits were 1/32 scale. 1/35 scale figures will look too small along side the vehicles; 54mm figures will appear more correct.
:)
Valiant has been around a long time. I have some of their figures from the 80s. In their day, they were passable. These days, the competition usually shows them up.
:)