GGGRRRRRRR, DUST!!! What do you do about it?

TruckLover

Mack CH613 & 53' Trailer
Hi guys,

I was looking at my layout earlyer today and the parts that I finished a while ago are VERY dusty. So I thought, ok, that is normal. Well it has been like 3-4 months since I worked on this particular section (Magic Pan Backery Complex and surrounding roads) and there was so much dust on the roads and buildings that when I took my finger and made a streak down it, it looked like there were walls of dust around it!! Now that is discousting lol

I got a foam brush (5" wide) and went to work. I wet it down with water and then began to scrap the dust off. I wet it down so that the dust would stick to the foam and not just be pushed around. About every 5" or so I would have to take the brush off and re-move the "wet dust" off the foam. It was like I would do a 5" x 5" sqaure and then I would have to clean the brush off. It worked anyways and now the scene looks good as new (or at least when I fist did it).

I think that I am going to do some more hosue cleaning on the layout in other areas because if there was that much dust on just that lil part of my layout, who knows how much more is on the other parts to. The celing fan in my room probly does not help either, lmao, but I also wipe the tops of the blades down once a month.

So my question is to you guys, what other methods do you use to keep your layouts "clean" or keeping dust to a minimal on the layout. I really don't want to have to do this every month, lol, but I guess you can't just keep the dust out.
 

bigsteel

Call me Mr.Tinkertrain
heres one word....SWIFFER!!! sign1 sign1 ,other than cleaning ALOT i really cant see a way to stop dust.you might be able to use a keyboard cleaner bottl of compressed air.and i dont think pledge would be too safe on a layout.--josh
 

TrainNut

Ditat Deus
When it gets to that point (and it hasn't since I stopped model railroading in the garage), I use the soft bristle attachment on the vacuum cleaner and suck it up. This accomplishes two tasks at the same time... it also shows you what you forgot to glue down!
 

beamish

HO & Steam Engineer
Canned air

I find that the cans of compressed air for cleaning keyboards and other electronics work well for this task.

They can be a little expensive however.

Good thing I get a "deal" on them at work.
 

TruckLover

Mack CH613 & 53' Trailer
heres one word....SWIFFER!!! sign1 sign1 ,other than cleaning ALOT i really cant see a way to stop dust.you might be able to use a keyboard cleaner bottl of compressed air.and i dont think pledge would be too safe on a layout.--josh

Ya, I just vacumed my room and cleaned the celing fan off again.

TrainNut said:
When it gets to that point (and it hasn't since I stopped model railroading in the garage), I use the soft bristle attachment on the vacuum cleaner and suck it up. This accomplishes two tasks at the same time... it also shows you what you forgot to glue down!

sign1 Stuff that is not glued down huh, well that eliminates this method for me, almost none of my ballast and scenery are glued down :eek:ops: Just the track and buildings are.

beamish said:
I find that the cans of compressed air for cleaning keyboards and other electronics work well for this task.

They can be a little expensive however.

Good thing I get a "deal" on them at work.

I would have the same problem as I said above, everything would go everywere!! LOL

These are some good methods tho, lets see what others say, this thread might be kinda useful to others as far as dusting and cleaning on the layout goes. :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
 

Herc Driver

Active Member
HAHA!! I leave it on my building/structure roofs as it greatly improves the "look" (which is a sad testiment to the quality and accuracy of the way I painted them). I try to use compressed air to blow the dust off vehicles and trains.
 

TruckLover

Mack CH613 & 53' Trailer
HAHA!! I leave it on my building/structure roofs as it greatly improves the "look" (which is a sad testiment to the quality and accuracy of the way I painted them). I try to use compressed air to blow the dust off vehicles and trains.

I have thought the same thing when it came to taking the dust off the building roofs, but have always thought it looked kinda weird but now that you said that it improves the "look" of it, I totally agree with you, next time I will just leave it on like you said :mrgreen:
 

Cannonball

More Trains Than Brains
heres one word....SWIFFER!!!

You know it! :thumb:

duster.jpg
 

FiatFan

Member
Aside from all the helpful advice that's already been provided, may I offer a couple of suggestions.

1. The compressed air simply lifts the dust off the layout. Unless you have a dust collector, it will settle back on to the layout.

2. Is your ceiling finished? If not, you could try that. It will make a
big difference. If your railroad is too completed to try putting up drywall, try stapling plastic sheeting to the ceiling.

3. You could always fall back on the old Linn Westcott method over over-pressuring your basement. There was an article in MR sometime in the '60s on how to do it. I don't remember what year but it was in the April issue (hint, hint).

Tom
 

TruckLover

Mack CH613 & 53' Trailer
You know it! :thumb:

duster.jpg

LMAO

FiatFan said:
Aside from all the helpful advice that's already been provided, may I offer a couple of suggestions.

1. The compressed air simply lifts the dust off the layout. Unless you have a dust collector, it will settle back on to the layout.

Good point :thumb:

FiatFan said:
2. Is your ceiling finished? If not, you could try that. It will make a big difference. If your railroad is too completed to try putting up drywall, try stapling plastic sheeting to the ceiling.

My celing is finished, my layout is in my room lol
 

Nomad

Active Member
I use a old fan type air filter I found at a thrift store and cut up furnace filters for the filter material. Collects a lot of dust that would otherwise go on the layout.

Loren
 
Top