Layout dust and debris

@Coca Cola guy posted:

Here is a question I have wondered about as I have begun expanding my layout.  How are you guys keeping your layout clean?  I don't mean track cleanliness as I know there are several methods for keeping track clean.  I am talking about general household dust that settles on buildings, landscaping, etc.

When I was young, my grandfather kept lightweight bed sheets over his layout but the constant pulling on them to remove them caused some damage to the scenery.  Any other ideas?

Honestly, I've not found it to be a problem.

I have high-quality HEPA filters in the main house air mover (which does not have registers near the layout's unfinished basement area), as well as a separate filter for the standalone dehumidifier (designed to be inserted in the air handler, but installed separately in the basement near the layouts, and set to a relative humidity of 55%) and a small ionic filter next to the main layout (only rarely used). Consequentially there's not a lot of air movement in the basement, and what there is, is pretty heavily filtered.

Frankly, most of the needed cleanup comes from episodic construction, either on the layout or elsewhere, especially in my basement shop. I use the shop vac for most of the floor-level stuff, and a rechargeable hand-held vacuum for the layout. I can't say I've ever noticed any heavy dust accumulation on either layout, and for the most part, what dust I've noticed IMHO acts more as a volunteer general weathering , in effect making the accessories and landscape a bit more prototype-realistic than out-of-the-box shiny metal and plastic. Every once in a while I give the top of the track (tubular O-27, in various radii) a rub-down with a scotchbrite-type pad, but I really haven't had many (if any) dust-related connectivity problems.

I don't put them up unless I plan to do a big dust-generating activity, but I made dust curtains out of 3'-wide landscape fabric. They attach to the rear of the layout valence with Velcro, and hang down to cover the fascia. I used about 1x2 of Velcro every two feet or so. To take them down, I roll them up around the cardboard tubes the fabric came on. The ends of the three curtains are labeled A, B, C, D, E, and F, as are the locations behind the valence that match them. It takes about 5 minutes to either put up or take down.

If you glue your scenery down really well, you can clean dust off it with your shop vac.

If your Layout is in your basement, the best thing you can do is install is a drop ceiling. My layout is almost 20 years old and I haven't dusted it yet.

Gene,

Like the "Scooters" protecting the layout

When I was a kid I took plastic drop clothes and stapled them onto 1X2s. It framed the entire layout. Then I hooked the whole thing to a pulley system I screwed into the overhead joists.

Two ropes would pull the whole thing up. In the summer we left everything down. Then in train season we pulled it up. It worked pretty good tbh.

Today I dust the building roofs and cars once a year. Its a dusty world.

@wbg pete posted:

Gene,

Like the "Scooters" protecting the layout

At first I was confused by seeing jet powered A-4's patrolling over a layout consistent with the age of steam. But then I looked up that the A-4 began its operational career in 1956, so its not completely implausible.

Over most of the ceiling over my basement layout proper, I installed drywall. Later, based on info received on this forum, I covered the entire rest of the ceiling with black landscape fabric stapled to the joists. The only lights in the train room are those over the layout. The black ceiling, valence, fascia, and unlighted main room create a dark-audience-lighted-stage effect.

My layout is in an unfinished basement. Despite that, dust has not been a big issue.

That said, twice each year I’ll “dust” the roofs of buildings and all vehicles using a clean paint brush. I use a small vacuum with a shoulder harness to clean roads and grass areas. Some scenery materials may come up during the vacuuming but, I keep extra Woodland Scenics materials on hand to touch up where necessary.

Since the majority of the trees on my layout were homemade, I simply spritz them with some inexpensive hair spray and sprinkle on fine ground foam in appropriate colors. That covers any dust that was on the trees.

Curt

Air Filtration System

maybe something like this could help?

there are less expensive versions of filter like this but they do a good job of clearing dust out of the air while working. I often run the one in my shop for a while after sanding/sawing/etc