Greg Houser posted:Chris - I use 2 items: a makeup brush which I purchased from Mr.Muffin or a can of compressed gas (the type you can buy at Walmart, etc).
-Greg
Mr. Muffin does look better with makeup on, and has many of his personal favorites for sale. Seriously, I have found that compressed air in cans does not get the dust off except for maybe some of the top layer. Something as soft as a makeup brush doesn't get it all off, either, unless it's only a light layer of recent dust.
For a complete job, I've found it's necessary to use soap and water and something like a very soft toothbrush. Besides the cleaning function, the soap and water also serves as a lubricant so there's no minute scratching of the paint by the brush. Then dry with a soft cloth. That's just my experience. It depends on how clean you want your trains - a soft brush alone may be adequate for your needs. You'd have to do it pretty often to keep the dust from building up too much, though, if that's all you use. Same with a feather duster. That's probably reasonable if it's done often, like at least monthly, as POTRZBE mentioned.
I have plexiglass sliding panels covering my (wood) shelves. Something like that is really the only way I know to keep the trains dust-free.
