I should expand a little on the plastic. My HO layout is surrounded by 3 walls, so I basically created a 4th wall with the plastic to keep the dust out, but I learned that you have to leave a small gap for at least a little air circulation or else you will see some mildew build up on landscaping materials. I found it growing on the Woodland Scenic black cinder colored ballast when I had the room completely closed off with no gaps in the plastic. The air purifier sits between this layout & my O-gauge layout. This other layout is not situated within the walled area & is more exposed to the basement. Because the accessories & buildings are heavier built & sturdier, I can get away with covering the 2 different sections of the layout with the plastic sheeting during summer. This works ok, but you really need 2 people to get the plastic up, over, & down in spring or back up & off in the fall becuase you don't want to drag the sheeting over the structures. With 2 of us, it goes much easier & nothing gets snagged or broken. I also noticd that dust remaining on the plastic gets airborne if you handle the sheets too ruff when you remove them. I always try to put them away & back again with the same side up or down. After a couple years, I use them for painting or something & use new ones after they've got a little dust built up on them. Shaking outside works, but they're staticy & attract the dust anayway. Just a note on the air purifiers: they do trap a lot of dust & doghair, but the cheaper type I bought with the filters in them need to be cleaned out about once every 3 or 4 months. The air purifier housings also attract a lot of dust & when I see it built up, I take the whole thing outside & blast all that stuff off with an air hose gun. I'd say, with this system in play, even with the laundry down there too, I have to lightly dust maybe once every 2 years or so. I had my wife get me a large makeup brush with the very soft bristles so it doesn't scratch & I wisk any dust right into the vacuum nozzel so its' not airborne down there. One other thing I did was talk to her about the laundry & specifically ask her to empty the lint trap from the drier directly into the garbage can & try not to get all that lint airborne by being lazy & just shaking it out into the can. That also made a big difference. One last thing is that I have heard dust falls onto layouts from the overhead flooring from above & some guys swear by drop ceilings to protect the layout from that stuff. Sounds legit to me but I didn't do that because I like the storage space up in the floor joists.
railroadedAnother thing that helps is an air purifier in the room. My dehumidifier also has an air filter on it too & that also attracts a certain ammount of dust. I also hang plastic sheeting up in the summer when I'm not operating to keep the layout isolated from other basement activity in the 6 months or so that its not being used.
When I had my layout I used a combination of a mini vac, swiffler dusters, paint brushes and cans of compressed air.
A big help is to prevent dust in the first place. Minimize fabric products like carpet blankets frilly curtains. Also put a cheesecloth type filter on the supply air ducts going into the room. Keep the door closed as much as possible to keep pets out.
Jim
I use a micro cordless rechargeable vacuum made by Dirt Devil called the Detailer. Here is a website to see what it looks like.
http://www.amazon.com/Detailer-Cordless-Keyboard-Mini-Vacuum/dp/B000FE99SU
The vacuum comes with 2 different bristle brush heads and I sometimes use the vacuum along with a small stiff paint brush to move and suck up the dust and debris.
KRM I use a portable air tank with a blow gun then gently blow off what is dirty, Or just tear down your stuff and rebuild when it gets that dirty. I don’t glue anything but figures down so I can vacuum it all up at the point where I want to change something,
I use a portable air tank with a blow gun then gently blow off what is dirty, Or just tear down your stuff and rebuild when it gets that dirty.
I don’t glue anything but figures down so I can vacuum it all up at the point where I want to change something,
Penny Trains Glue everything down good and tight, then get the garden hose! OK, not excessively practical unless your layout is in the garden to begin with! I've had decent luck using various types of paint brushes (thin, wide, round, flat, stiff, soft) for different applications. (You can use a slightly damp stiff-bristle flat brush on a factory painted locomotive but you wouldn't use a wet anything to clean a paper house.) If the details are fragile use a soft round like a sable or (believe it or not) a squirrel hair brush. If they're cast-in plastic I go with a nylon bristle flat. Work from high to low and then use a vac as gently as possible to clean up what lands on the table surface. Becky
Glue everything down good and tight, then get the garden hose!
OK, not excessively practical unless your layout is in the garden to begin with!
I've had decent luck using various types of paint brushes (thin, wide, round, flat, stiff, soft) for different applications. (You can use a slightly damp stiff-bristle flat brush on a factory painted locomotive but you wouldn't use a wet anything to clean a paper house.) If the details are fragile use a soft round like a sable or (believe it or not) a squirrel hair brush. If they're cast-in plastic I go with a nylon bristle flat. Work from high to low and then use a vac as gently as possible to clean up what lands on the table surface.
Becky
Like others, I use some brushes as well as a vacuum with a brush attachment. I use low PSI compressed air on locomotives, rolling stock, and other items that are removable. Regardless of how clean I think my layout is, when taking photos, I always seem to find a cobweb that I missed.
Same way my wife cleans house. I take the stuff off clean everythng and then put it back.
"IT's GOOD TO BE THE KING",by Mel Brooks
Charter Member- Tardis Train Crew (TTC) - Detroit3railers- Detroit Historical society Glancy Modular trains- Charter member BTTS
I let my long hair cat just wonder every where on the layout haven't had a dust problem yet
Life's hard, even harder if your stupid John Wayne
http://rtssite.shutterfly.com/
Joined 1-21-2011 TCA 13-68614
Kev, From The North Bluff Above Marseilles IL.
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
Firelock76 A small hand vacuum works for me, plus a paint brush to get the dust off the locomotives and rolling stock. An the other hand, I've got it on good authority that if you ignore the dust for at least four years, by the fifth year it doesn't get any worse looking.
A small hand vacuum works for me, plus a paint brush to get the dust off the locomotives and rolling stock.
An the other hand, I've got it on good authority that if you ignore the dust for at least four years, by the fifth year it doesn't get any worse looking.
On the other hand, I've got it on good authority that if you ignore the dust for at least four years, by the fifth year it doesn't get any worse looking.
fifedog A Toro 1000 leaf blower and an open door. It's all about helping others.
A Toro 1000 leaf blower and an open door.
It's all about helping others.
Hello everybody! I would really like to know what you do to get the dust of your layouts. I've tried different ways (blowing, brushing, etc.) but I must be doing something wrong because I'm just moving the dust around! Any suggestions?
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