Daves Tugboat Diorama

The blue foam was dug out to the bottom of the base so the hauls of the tugs would be below the water. With the tugs in position I sketched out the basic lay of the land. I used a file folder to make a pattern so I could get a pretty good feel of how it was going to look. I rough cut the foam and glued and spiked it to the base.

I use a power chisel, a belt sander and a Dremel tool to shape the foam. Once it’s in a rough shape a heavy coat of plaster smoothes it all out. Plaster sticks to the foam polyurethane foam really well, so no priming is necessary, A little bit of sanding on the plaster with course sandpaper to knock off the high spots and its ready for a couple coats of Gesso to smooth it over and create a surface for the paint to stick to.