House Cleaning

[Bill Baker]

Twice a year I have the drudgery of cleaning my layout, dusting my structures and removing cobwebs from my scenery.  This year, more than ever, it will be a tedious task.  My question is this:  How do some of you clean your layouts without damaging fragile scenery?  I have an abundance of trees, some of which have the first vestages of cobwebs forming on them and all my structure roofs need dusting.....and that's not to mention my streets.  I would greatly appreciate some ideas.

Thanks, Bill

[Paul W.]

Hi Bill,
I use a variety of cleaning techniques. For some areas I use a small static duster. Others I use a can of compressed air. You can get this anywhere they sell computer items. There is no "one way" to clean  up your RR, and none of them are very fast, at least none I've found. I also get out paint brushes for tight areas. Pretty much I'll use anything soft that doesn't harm the layout.

Good luck!

[Bill Baker]

Thanks Paul for responding.  I guess no one else cleans their layout.

[taz-of-boyds]

Well, after I build mine I will have to clean it...    

But one of my thoughts is to use a filtered fan(s) on low speed putting air into engine houses, round houses, etc. from under the table to keep dust out of these areas if it will work.

If we could use more prototypically accurate material we could just hose it down like the real thing!
Charles

[Atlantic Central]

Of course dust is everywhere, but it is minimised by building your layour in a clean living environment to begin with. If your layout is in a basement with bare concrete and no ceiling, you will have ten times the dust of your living room.

Drop ceilings are inexpensive and concrete should at least be painted to provent it from "dusting off" as it ages.

Compressed air and a ggod shop vac, blow the dust off, while holding the vac hose 3-5" away to "clean" the air/dust you stir up.

Sheldon

[glsummers]

Sheldon did you use a air compressor as your compressed air source? What pressure did you use if you did. I understand the dust problem and your idea sounds great. Thanks Larry

[Atlantic Central]

Use a low pressure, like 20-30 psi, and keep your distance until you get a feel for the force.

Sheldon

[Jim Banner]

I use a regular vacuum cleaner in one hand and a soft brush in the other.  I use the brush to gently brush the dust off the scenery and up into the air, where I capture it with the vacuum cleaner hose.  The end of the vacuum cleaner hose is never closer to the scenery than about 12". 

I have to agree with Sheldon that job one is minimizing the dust in the first place.  Way back before I owned my own home, I built a layout in the open-ceilinged basement of a rented house.  In desperation, I stapled plastic sheet to the bottoms of the joists.  This worked very well, even better than the suspended the ceilings in the two houses since.

In my present house, I ended up removing the carpeting and replacing it with vinyl tile because of allergies, and I think that was a step backwards in dust control.  With a hard floor, any dust is quickly stirred up by anyone walking around the room.  With carpet, the dust gets trapped until the next vacuuming (or until you take up the carpet years later!)

The third thing that helps is changing HVAC filters regularly and/or using an electrostatic precipitator.

And the worst thing?  Renovate your house, use lots of drywall, and sand it  dry.  I swear that dust from sanding drywall joint filler teleports itself through solid walls in its rush to land on the layout.   

[jsmvmd]

Dear Jim,

When I worked construction years ago, we always damp sponged the drywall joints instead of sanding.  It did a nice job, and no dust.

Best Wishes,

Jack

[Bill Baker]

Great ideas guys, and thanks for the suggestions.  I have an old feather duster that I sprayed with "Endust" or something by that name, and it worked great.  It seems to have some kind of static properties to it which grabs the small cobwebs from my trees and the dust from the roofs of my buildings.  The idea of using a small paint brush is great.

Yeah, it is a pain, but that's part of maintenance.

Thanks again, Bill