I love those miniature projects.
Yes, you are right, at some stage the model really becomes too fragile to handle and to attach to its base, so it has to be mounted much earlier than one would do it intuitively. On the other hand, it also becomes less accessible from certain angles due to the comparatively wide base. There are always trade-offs in life. I will have to do the same soon for my current project.
How do you attach the model to the base ? A screw from below ?
It would be interesting to see your carved see, before it is painted.
A frame with a busy wood-grain can visually distract from the model, but in this case the light wood sort of evokes the idea of coral sand beaches and coral reefs
