Just curious about how you guys deal with dust that collects on your layouts. I live in Florida and my layout is in a spare bedroom that is climate controlled. Any suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Mini-shopvac with a crevice tool. Put a layer of ‘something’ (torn pantyhose material) around the sponge filter. This reduces the tornado-force wind of suction to a hurricane, and also catches anything that gets sucked up that shouldn’t have been. The unobstructed dust collecter tank makes it easy to sift ballast, bushes and little people out of the real dust.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964
Some clean, soft artists brushes are useful. Especially, around fragile details.
General cleaning: a hand-held shop vac with various attachments. A piece of old nylons go between the attachment and the hose.
Fine cleaning (structures, locos, and cars) – a very soft brush. Make-up brushes are ideal for this.
The layout has a small shop vac. For trains I occasionally dust with light canned air but I kind of like a light dusty look.
RMax
Keep in mind you can mitigate dust if you keep something like a cheap plastic painter’s drop cloth on it, especially if you know there are extended periods of time you WON’T be able to work/play on the layout.
It is lightweight and when you remove it. be sure to fold the “dirty side” carefully into itself so as not to disturb all the dust and have it latter resettle on your layout agian because you stirred it up!
I use a DeWalt vacuum cleaner that runs off either 110vac or 18v battery. It is a shop vac, but its container is probably only 2 gallons. It is small and portable. When reading the reviews about it lots of people said it wasn’t as powerful as their full size unit, and I figured that is a plus on my HO Layout. It was less that $100.oo (it comes without battery.) I already had several 18 volt battery packs, as I have the whole family of DeWalt portable tools. The good thing about the small tank is it is easy to find small parts inadvertantly sucked up, and I find little people quick enough to recussitate them. I usually leave the rooftops of everything dusty unless a fingerprint shows up then its vacuum time, used with a small negative camle hair brush.I love those camel hair negative brushes, and large air bulbs (nee. air syringe). They can be gotten at a real camera store, probably not a big box store. I vacuum the right of way probably monthly, and with several hundred actual feet of track it does take awhile, but less time spent with having to clean hundreds of little wheels. I also use a centerline track cleaner after the vacuum with goo gone as the cleaner. I have no contact problems on my DCC sound layout, in spite of the fact most of my sound decoders do not have “keep alive” capicators on them.
Paul
Dayton and Mad River RR
Feather duster and an air brush.
I use this 12 volt auto vacuum that didn’t have much vacuum to it. Didn’t do much for the car but worked well for the layout. It doesn’t suck up light weight detail pieces that are not glued to the layout, just the dust.
I use this 12 volt auto vacuum that didn’t have much vacuum to it. Didn’t do much for the car but worked well for the layout. It doesn’t suck up light weight detail pieces that are not glued to the layout, just the dust.
Dust on freight cars, rolling stock, locomotives and buildings?
Make sure there’s no fingerprints showing and spray it with Dullcoat.
Instant weathering! 
Thanks for all your input!
If you’re using a brush to dust-off smaller items, either do so outdoors or use the brush in conjunction with a vacuum cleaner: otherwise, you’re simply re-distributing the dust.
A finished train room is the best weapon in the fight against dust. My layout is in the basement, with all walls finished and painted, and a suspended ceiling in place. The concrete floor is unpainted, so I make sure to clean it only with the shopvac - never with a broom.
I find it necessary to vacuum only every year or two, depending on what other work has been going on in the layout room. I don’t clean track, although the right-of-way does get vacuumed occasionally.
Wayne