Hi I have never dusted my airplanes,and I wondering how you guys do it.What type of cleaner,or rag do you use.
A gentle stream of air from the compressor or vaccum cleaner (output side); a paint brush (1-2 inch width) combined with the vaccum in close proximity to suck up to dust after you suspend it; a wool duster (just be careful you don’t snag small bits), there is no great way that is totally effective and safe for the model.
The worst is dusting canopys. I use a soft 1" brush and a clean airbrush for compressed air with a low PSI setting.
The best way to go is to dust often and it never gets to hard to clean them. If you leave it and end up with a heavy dust that can be a lot tougher.
Half inch chisel edged paint brush.
Firm enough to remove the dust, soft enough not to take out the details at the same time!
Every time I dust my models I tell myself how much I need to invest in display cabinets, but that would just mean less to spend on kits!
Karl
I use a camera lens cleaning brush. It has a rubber squeeze bulb that supplies low pressure
puffs of air and very soft natural bristles…
Ray
As well as the methods mentioned, I’m also proactive. Most of my builds are in boxes, and not exposed to dust. And if I do take them out to display, I rotate them around the display case. Minimizes the exposure.
I use a clean make-up brush. The one I stole from my wife’s dresser is a round one. It’s very good because it is very soft. It will not break small parts. While brushing I blow air into the models using my comressor without the air brush.
Good question!
My finished models get caked really fast because I live next to a lumber mill that has all exposed dirt lumber yard.
I’ve used an old fashioned feather duster forever. It works great. Take 'em outside and do it.
It’s the fly poop or bug spittle that really is a problem. I carefully hold the plane under the faucet with luke warm water running in a small stream to disolve it off. Disgusting, yucky bugs! Damn them!
One thing that I’ve done as of late is replace all the arials, pitots and pokey out thingys with solid steel recreations and JB weld (two part epoxy) them complete with pass-through joints. I’ve been really sick of breaking that stuff off. I just went nuts one day and redid that stuff. I can kill an intruder with the attenna on any one of my 1/48s… or dreadfully maime with a 1/72… HAAAA!
I’ve tried a good number of ways and found the best to be a little dish washing liquid in some luke warm water for badly encrusted models, often using a very soft brush to loosen the heaviest deposits.
For regular and general dusting I use the brush from my LCD screen cleaning kit, which has really pliable bristles. These are retractable, so it is possible to vary their stiffness as they contact the surface. This even works on rigging and antennae if due care is taken.
Me neither - Glad you joined the club [(-D]
My only advice - listen to Gerald, It’s how I do it. [:)]
I’m too busy playing with them for the dust to settle. I acually have some that were bad enough to need a bath seriously after moving around so much in the Army they get busted and filthy so as I am now finally settleing down so may the dust. This is very helpful for me too. Got lots of methods to try out although I may use a big fire cracker to blow the dust off this dern Halifax![:(!]
I figured glass display cabinets would be the way to go. Not only do they protect them from the elements but you can check the undercarriages out without having to move the model at all.