Midnight call on a Euro profile, cylinder still dripping; longitudinal striations at roughly 2–3 o’clock inside the keyway and fine brass swarf on the face suggest manipulation rather than forced entry. For those working wet scenes, do you tape the keyway and bag to preserve orientation and trace, or pause for a quick low-viscosity Mikrosil cast on-scene despite the moisture?
I’d skip a full “tape the keyway” wrap and pop a short acetate/straw collar over the face — tiny umbrella for the keyway — then bag with silica gel to hold orientation and kill the droplets; cast Mikrosil LV back at the bench once it’s just surface-damp so you don’t wash out those 2–3 o’clock striations. @OP, have you tried wicking with lens tissue instead of air to avoid shifting the brass swarf?
Rain scenes at midnight, . I’ll shoot oblique macros, mark orientation at 12 with a paint pen, then swap Mikrosil for a hydrophilic light‑body PVS and syringe a thin cast — sets fine in the wet and won’t wash out the brass swarf. Quick straw collar like @bclarkson2001 and face‑up bag with silica; did your cast keep those ‘2–3 o’clock’ striations clean?
With it ‘still dripping’, slip a nitrile finger as a hood; micro-vac the brass swarf first — you collecting swarf pre-cast?
Quick tip from wet midnights: a stretched square of Parafilm M makes a non‑adhesive hood over the plug; press it into the keyway rim to dam runoff, then do a shallow “low‑viscosity Mikrosil” cast before bagging. It holds well but can lift on cold metal, so warm it with gloved fingers for a few seconds; @OP, did those longitudinal striations repeat in the same sector on other doors?