The Ship Model Forum

I wouldn't use tough stuff, such as epoxy putty for that purpose. It would be rather labour-intensive to carve after sculpting.

In the past I used simple, cheap plaster of Paris mixed with cellulose glue for added tensile strength. After sculpting and carving, this is given a couple of coats of wood-filler to make the surface hard and smooth. It then can be painted at gusto with acrylics.

Today I tend to use ready-made acrylic wall repair putty from the DIY store. Surface treatment as above.

Wave crests etc. are sculpted with clear acrylic gel medium from art materials supply houses.

As a base I always use plywood, which is cheap and does not warp. One can score the wood somewhat to provide a better key for the plaster etc.

You mean the two-part Tamiya epoxy putty that comes in two strips? That would be perfect and it should behave like the Magic Sculpt, although I wouldn't call it cheap or easy to buy here in the US. He probably used the equivalent of dozens of packages of that. There are two types, the smooth and the quick-dry and I would definitely recommend the former and not the latter. There are other alternatives too, like the fine-grain version of Milliput or maybe even hardware store two-part epoxies considering you don't see it beneath all his preparation.

It looks like the ship popped out because he didn't press the epoxy too hard into the ship (you can both see many gaps and the floor of the diorama sliding down along the side of the ship when he makes waves). But you may want to coat the unpainted unbuilt hull in a thin layer of petroleum jelly (which washes off with dish soap) to make sure.

I recently viewed a video on you tube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATKUT4eNL6E) in which the modeler uses Magic Sculpt to form the waves. Has anyone here ever used Magic Sculpt, and is it similar enough to Tamiya epoxy putty? Magic Sculpt is fairly expensive (even more so when you have to order it!), but Tamiya putty is easily accessible. In his video, the modeler forms waves around the ship's hull, and then easily pops it out, yet the putty remains firmly attached to the plastic sheet he's used as a base. I would think, with Tamiya putty, it would either hold the model in place permanently, or if not yet cured, deform or stretch from pulling the model out. Does anyone have any previous experience using Tamiya putty in this way?