Magic Sculpt

I've discussed Magic Sculpt in the past, but wanted to talk about it just a bit more.  Magic Sculpt (also known as Abracadabra Sculpt) is a 2 part epoxy that is very much like and totally dislike clay.  I've been using it to further build up a 4' x 5' piece based on the story of Noah's Ark for a local church.  First, here's the progress.  Essentially, the sculpting is completed. I'll do a bit more, and then begin paint.  Additional creatures that are very small or in the background will be painted.

I did give the animals a quick coat of primer.  The thing I love about Magic Sculpt is the ability to shape things and then smooth it all with water.  The working time varies, but I mix relatively small batches (2 golf ball size pieces at a time).  What I've found is that if you spend the time early on just blocking in the shapes, by the time the epoxy firms up a bit it hold detail really well.  If you want to "micro-sculpt" pieces- you can put them on parchment paper.  For some odd but useful reason, it does not adhere to parchment paper like it does everything else in the universe.

Here is a close-up from a couple days ago as I was blocking in some animals and the ark.  Another great thing about Magic Sculpt is that you can build it up...additional coats will stick to itself.

So- now it's on to paint.  Time to break out the airbrush and brushes.  I'll begin by giving the sky and ground a base coat, avoiding the animals and ark as much as possible.  There will be plenty of glazing, too. 

It occurs to me that at the time the Halo video game came out- I never saw anybody connect the "Flood" with the Noah's Ark story....so here you go: