Ithink the Dust Dabber is the same as the goo stuff (name?) that kids play with. A slimmy blob that picks up the dust. The guys who detail cars use it also to remove the soiled spots on the inside of car doors and the armrest. They also stuff it into the car air vents to capture dust. Works great.
Paul D
N scale Washita and Santa Fe RailroadSouthern Oklahoma circa late 70's
Sheetrocking the walls & ceiling, a rubber sealed sectional door, epoxy coated concrete floor, roofed valance, all have been good preventive measures against the constant invasion of dust & dirt upon my garage layout. But it's a war that can't be won and the clean-up battle is never ending.
I employed another cleaning weapon after seeing Cody's demonstration; Woodland Scenics Dust Dabber, not cheap and kinda weird to use, but works great in getting the fine dust off my Envirotex & gloss gelled plexiglass waterways.
Happy Sunday & regards, Peter
Most important is to never smoke tobacco in the room. It will leave a layer of sticky tar on your layout, and the dust will stick to it instead of coming loose.
Ed
PED Even if trees and bushes are removable, how do you clean them when you have removed them?
Even if trees and bushes are removable, how do you clean them when you have removed them?
Thanks guys. Great stuff. For starters, I think I will leave the overhead lines off my telephone poles. Also the mini vac attachment is a great idea. It would allow me to get into tight areas that is not feasable with the regular vac. I also like the box fan/filter idea. I don't have room for a full size box fan but I can rig up a smaller version.
Sadly dust is out of scale and piles up like volcanic ash did on Portland after Mt Saint Helens blew it's top. The best way to deal with it is to have your scenery glued down and use a mini vac attachment which is plugged into your regular vaccum. They are available on-line or at places like Harbor Freight. The attachments are small enough that you won't suck in small parts but it does make it take longer to clean.
It is a good to have your structures be removable because it can make cleaning easier. I also don't glue down vehicles. Some figures are glued down but most of mine are just standing there so I can move them around or they are glued down using white glue that can easily be loosened.
I bought some attachments to a regular hose type vacuum cleaner, so smaller hose, with small brush attachments at the end, etc. [Amended post: EXACTLY what Lone Wolf and Santa Fe shows below.]
I do suspect the small vacs meant for computer keyboards and such would do well.
Really effective cleaning almost always involves an amount of re scenicking - it just comes with the territory. It also helps revive the colors which fade over time.
If you do vacuum, many guys combine an open hose with a small clean paint brush to kick up the dust which is then sucked up, but they put a filter over the hose opening (a bit of old ladies stocking [I mean old stocking; age of lady is irrelevant] or pantyhose is good for this) so that a stray figure or vehicle or entire tree or bush or other detail part can be saved.
You learn to be careful around structures (which often need it the most, in addition to rolling stock and locomotive tops) and in particular, utility poles if use actual lines.
Once you have gone through this process I think you do not look at scenicking the same. You put more emphasis on solid attachment of details and ground foam even if loose stuff "looks better."
Dave Nelson
A small vacuum is probably the only practical method, particularly with poles and power lines.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
This topic is about cleaning landscapes - not track.
I am in early stages of landscaping my layout and I am concerned with how to periodically clean dust from it after it is in place. My layout is basically flat so I do not have mountains or tunnels to deal with. Will have some trees but not a forest. Will have various structures (city building, grain silo's, etc) and many will be lighted. Will have some telephone poles with overhead lines and street lights. Will have low hills, rock, bushes and static grass. All ground covers (small rocks, grass and bushes) will be glued down while trees/poles will be stuck into the foam base.
This looks to me like a real challange to keep clean. I have seen layouts that have not been cleaned since they were built many years ago and they look terrible. How do others do it and how often?
Vaccum - I do have a central vaccum system available but I would expect to adjust the suction so that it is low. I have seen the small vac's used for computer keyboards. Are they useful for this?
Liquids - I would not expect to use liquids on the landscape but could use them to clean structures that have been removed for cleaning.
Structures - Most of my structures will be removable. Many will have lights. I would expect that they would be best cleaned by removing them for cleaning.
Any suggestions on things I should do during construction that will make future cleaning easier?