Problems with Dust

[kymdlr]

Does anyone have any tips or suggestions to keep your model room or display cases dust free? I feel like no matter what ive tried, my displayed models become caked with dust in a short amount of time. I have to dig them out and clean them by hand because the compressed cans of air don't help. I have a plug in air purifier but not sure if its doing much help either.

[Miatatom]

Dust has to be getting in some way. Where is the room? Basement or an area with carpet? Mine is in the basement and I have the ceiling and insulation covered with plastic. Do you change the HVAC filters often enough? If you're not sure about the air purifier, it may be another source of dust. To really figure out what the issues are, we'd need more information to get specific. 

[High octane]

 More expensive filters, I believe they're called HEPA (?) filters may eliminate a lot of your dust problems. You could also check and get some advice from a commercial HVAC company as they build "clean rooms" for labs and factory engineering.

[oldnslow]

All of my models are in individual clear boxes , so no dust gets on them , same with the diecast , each has it's own display case . i just look at it as part of the cost of building a model . Now the boxes are a different story , but much easier to clean than models .

[Spex84]

I keep my models in the basement where A: it's cool and B:there's less dust than upstairs where activities, carpets, clothing, and humans generate a lot of dust! My bedroom and kitchen get so dusty, I wouldn't ever keep a model there unless it was sealed up tight in a case of some kind.

Even in my basement, models left out over a period of months will end up with a light coat of dust on them, so I keep finished models in a display case made from a fish tank turned up on end. It's enclosed on all sides but one, and that side has a sheet of plexiglass cut to fit tightly in the opening, so it's well sealed.  Too many commercially available display cases have big gaps at the edges where dust can get in, and my place is so dusty it would be "game over" with one of those cases, probably within a couple weeks.

The best way to keep models dust-less is to seal 'em up tight! That way, the general problem of dust in the room can be dealt with separately.

 

[mikemodeler]

  On 7/31/2017 at 1:54 AM, oldnslow said:

All of my models are in individual clear boxes , so no dust gets on them , same with the diecast , each has it's own display case . i just look at it as part of the cost of building a model . Now the boxes are a different story , but much easier to clean than models .

Same here! I have found using the 40% off coupon at Hobby Lobby on the 1/24 display case they sell costs me about $5 per model to store/display when done. The outside of the cases get dirty, but the models themselves stay clean.

Building a "clean" room might be extreme to display your models, buying display cases would be much easier and cheaper.

[Jim N]

I try and buy the model cases when I can.  In the meantime, I store them in Gallon size Ziplock bags.

[waynehulsey]

Dust!! Try living in Arizona, this stuff is like flour and can find every crack. Then since I live in a condo, you get the 'groundkeepers' out with their industrial blowers filling the air with dust.  Since most of my windows don't open as an extra level I've ran duct tape along the seams. And as mentioned got a bunch of the old JoHan display cases. Wish I could afford glass front bookcases for all my books.

[THarrison351]

I buy my cases by the case, no pun intended, the same ones that Hobby Lobby sales, directly from the manufacturer. https://www.pioneerplastics.com/

It's cheaper in the long run.

This was before I moved. I haven't put anything back out since I don't have a room to display my cars anymore.

[slusher]

I have carpet in my model room, and I have many models in AMT cases and are completely dust free. I have four wall cases and after years there is hardly anything in the case. I use 3m HEPA filters and nothing gets thru them...

[Tom Geiger]

 

Dust actually enhances my models.  

[Xingu]

Just leave them out in the dust. Eventually you will be able to do a barn find diorama. If I ever build any that I am truly proud of, I will put them in a case.