29 March - 10 April
Humidity is sporadic, but less so at my work, so I have been taking the Monoliths in to my day job to get some of the spraying done during my lunch time (providing the humidity is 50% or less).
Spent some time doing source-lighting where the top crystal would glow. Nothing dramatic, just heavily diluted Scorpion Green built up in layers to get the right "eerie green glow."
With the passage of time, I decided I was not happy with the finish of the models. The few days where I had a good weather "window," when using the spray paint (6-8 coats of paint there), I've found the paint tends to "orange peel." For those of you that do not know what that defect is, orange-peeling is a result of the paint drying inconsistently, without "flow" to give a smooth finish. Orange-peeling gives the end result of multiple small lumps, ridges and valleys, as some areas of the model dry faster than others.
Even though I made sure I was painting in 50% or less humidity and 72-76 degree weather, some of the model area dried with a pronounced orange-peel finish. I even tried testing the paint on four AOL CDs (man, those come in handy for scrap!) - I went thick with some, thin coats with others, it all orange-peeled, so I am sure it is not a result of the weather or painting application. The weather was fine for spray painting (according to the directions on the paint itself), so it is not the temperature or humidity. I think I may have just gotten a bad batch of paint.
Orange-peeling can be fixed with a shot or two of Dullcote if a matte finish is what we are looking for, but that is not the case here - the color-shifting effect needs the gloss to stand out. So, it is going to take multiple layers of a clear gloss to smooth out the areas that have the defect, so that is what I had to do.
That also delayed the finished product to Bill's hands. I had quoted less than a month, and was not able to make that date due to the paint defect, corrective action needed, and weather non-cooperation.
April 19
The Monoliths are done. Bill has been notified, and I will be packing one up for shipping (the other will await auction).
All in all, a very different model compared to what I have done in the past. Parts of it I am happy with, others I am not.
And now that I have put together two of them, I know what to look for, learned a little more about modeling, and how to do an even better job next time (which is the main thing I like about this project).