My son and I were working on a layout about ten to twelve years ago when he got interested in playing baseball. Needless to say the layout never got finished and is extremely dirty at this point. I don’t want to start over, but I need some advise on cleaning everything and not destroying all the work we did before. I understand that a mixture of glyserine and water should revive my trees. But I don’t know what the mix is. I remember about 1995 there was an article in Model Railroader about cleaning up an old layout but I can’t find that issue in my box of mags. How do I clean the buildings and all the mountains and stuff without breaking things? Some help please? Any would be certainly be appreciated.
Charlie in So.Cal.
OK, OK, OK. So I read thru some topic lists and found one on dusting up the old stuff, Vacumes and brushes, it’s all good. But to liven up the old folage, is the glycerine the right thing to use? I want to brighten up the old trees, grass and ground foams. Any suggestions?[banghead]
Thanks, Charlie[bow]
Charlie,
If your old trees were made from natural materials (weeds, twigs, lichen, etc) there may not be much that you can do. You may also be surprised at how much brighter the layout is once vacuumed/dusted.
If you haven’t come across this tip - it’s a good one for where things may not be glued down. Put a bit of panyhose across the end of the vacuum hose to catch anything you don’t want to “permanently” lose.
Good luck!
Andrew
for all the removeable items I would take them off and use a compressor on low PSI to blow the dust and debris off. You dont say how big the layout is, or if it is moveable, but if things are glued down on the scenery I would use the same compressor method for the entire layout (outside if possible), if some things move it would be simple enough to reglue them as they would have needed it anyway.
Let us know if you come up with an ingenious solution to this problem.
(If you dont own a compressor you could rent one for a few hours from H.Depot or similar store for very little money)
Have fun & be safe,
Karl.
If you could get someone to help you, you could use BOTH techniques…blowing and sucking. One of you holds an open-ended vacuum cleaner pipe (no attachments) near where the other person is blowing quick, not too high pressure, blasts of compressed air. You can use a compressor to compress air up to 20 psi, and that might be great. Upwards of 30 psi, with a typical nozzle and press valve will be a bit much, methinks.
So, the drill is blast, and let the vacuum suck up what floats up. No worries about getting the rest of the place covered in what left the layout surface…or other areas of the layout, itself!
I just wanted to thank everyone for their help on this. The layout is about 4x8 and I can remove the buildings so their clean up will be fairly easy. The vacume with the panyhose should work well for the ground stuff. (I guess my wife shouldn’t still be in them when I do this ;>] ) The trees I have made with lichen I think are my biggest worries. It has been really dry lately and the lichen is very brittle at this point, is there a way that any of you know of to rejuvinate the lichen and make it spongie again?[bow]
Charlie,
Don’t know to the extent of the dust layer or if just brushing/ vacuum will work. You live in a very dry climate so most of the dust should vacuum up. Dampness/ humidity can grunge everything. In the past, have cleaned an old portable switching layout and rejuvinated the scenery. Removed anything not glued down, dusted even scrubbed w/ a soft paint brush/ vacuum method. Many of the trees and scenery was brightened up by a light coat of ground foam held by hairspray or scenery cement. Reglued/ repaired any damage to structures doctored up any weathering and replaced. Trees w/ brittle natural armatures and other natural prducts can be a real problem. Liichen can be rejuvenated, but this may be a time to change it to polyfiber or other newer products for durability and esthetics. Hope this is of some help.
Bob K.