The distortion is interesting and something I didn’t realize the model included. I assume that it’s necessary because the effects of surface tension and the viscosity of water (and other effects?) change its behavior at this scale relative to the features of the model?

If I recall correctly, at an undistorted scale, the water would be so shallow that surface tension and viscosity would dominate, so the depths are exaggerated to keep the flow realistic.

More specifically, tidal flow obeys Froude similarity, not Reynolds. Matching the model's Froude number to the real Bay's requires enough depth for gravity waves and tides to scale correctly, which the vertical exaggeration provides.

But the distortion makes the flow too efficient, so copper strips are added throughout to achieve the right frictional resistance.

Have you ever watched a movie with a fire or explosion just didn't look right because it was a scale replica? At a subconscious level, you may have picked up on how the dynamics of the smoke or debris didn't fit right with the scale. It's because the fluids in the model lacked "similitude" at the adjusted scale.

When building scaled models, adjustments have to be made to create that similitude, usually done by comparing some dimensionless number at the real scale and model scale. If you're using water, maybe you can't adjust the viscosity, so you may you have to adjust the velocity to get the same dimensionless number. Everything doesn't just scale linearly; you tweak the variables to achieve the dimensionless value so the whole system dynamics remain faithful.

E.g.,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Froude_number

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayleigh_number

Yes. Another technique was to use alcohol rather than water since it has lower surface tension, but that was only workable for smaller models (which were usually enclosed).