I guess this all depends on how well everything holds together. My basement is a dirty environment since it shares some space as a wood and metal shop. cleaning has involved blasting everything with compressesed air at whatever the pneumatic system was last set to by one of my neighbors. Suprisingly ballast, manufactured trees, and well secured vegetation seem to stand up to it, but would never advise that with anything fragile. As some suggest, a light brush should be fine. Some day when my layout is moved to proper space, I plan to get air purifiers and possibly cover some areas with plastic sheeting when not in use for an extended period.
But I feel like a little dust is OK. Sometimes things look a bit more real with a light coat. The only thing I'm particular about is trees not getting too dirty and trains and track.
I think that the preferable process might be to have a dust-free environment for a layout. Using a brush to remove dust from structures and rolling stock only works well if you take those items outdoors to do the cleaning - if done in the layout room, the next time you walk into that room, the disturbed dust will migrate right back to where it had been before.The only time I need to clean track is after ballasting or scenery work near the track....not bad for over 30 years of use.
Wayne
rrebell Not a big fan of the sprays, bought some for fake house plants but found out window cleaners with amonia cheaper and better. Most scenery has to be redone to some extent. First off is to keep scenery as clean as possible from the get go and plan for cleaning and lighting is very important as you do not want floresencents or incandesents. Building and rooling stock and water can be cleaned well with WS Dust Dabber. Rocks can be restained as long as they were not sealed. You can vacum the ground cover and hairspray on a touchup layer on bushes. All my trees are removable along with most buildings.
Not a big fan of the sprays, bought some for fake house plants but found out window cleaners with amonia cheaper and better. Most scenery has to be redone to some extent. First off is to keep scenery as clean as possible from the get go and plan for cleaning and lighting is very important as you do not want floresencents or incandesents. Building and rooling stock and water can be cleaned well with WS Dust Dabber. Rocks can be restained as long as they were not sealed. You can vacum the ground cover and hairspray on a touchup layer on bushes. All my trees are removable along with most buildings.
Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California Turned 84 in July, aging is definitely not for wimps.
Back in the day I bought a can of arosil can to spray on your layout to clean and brighten your scenery . looking for ideas to mix up in a bottke to spray to clean up my layout ! Anyone have any tips on cleaning sol to use .