Age of Strife

Here's a topic I hope I'm not alone with; I'm pretty sure we all have suffered from this one at some time, willingly or unknowingly... Dusty models... and I'm not talking paint effects here or ForgeWorld powders; I mean the real deal... human skin type stuff

I have some of my models just sat on the shelf in the dining room. Not because of their fantastic painting schemes or marvellous skills, infact most are just undercoated black

But now, after many months, they all have a layer of dust on them. I took a land raider down the other day, while thinking about compiling a new DA list, and saw that my model was a different colour on the top edge. I took another down, a black undercoated one, and the dust was even more obvious on that.

My first reaction was to blow at the stuff, to try and remove it. That was marginally successful in its objective. But there was still a large amount still stuck to the model. I then reached for a large paint brush, 'large dry brush' I think it was, and brushed at the dust vigerously, trying not to snap the ariel and storm bolter off. This again removed some, but not all.

The next thing I thought of was to wet the brush and try to wash the dust off. This turned the dust into a black wash. Something you wouldn't mind having on an undercoated black model, or even one with its 1st layer of colour already done, but not on your finished, Death Wing, Bone White, Land Raider!! Horrified, I grabbed a tissue and started to scrub, trying to dry off the muck, but alas, it didn't shift it all.

I'm hoping that someone in our community has been here before and can help me out. I daren't do any more with them at present till I've sort your council. So if anyone has any advice, just write a comment below, thx.

Vacuum cleaner? Compressed air canisters?

Those would be my recommendations, mostly based on cleaning dust out of computers. None of my own models tend to be sat outside of boxes/cases for long enough to gather dust like that.

Those are my first thoughts.

Large Soft makeup brush. The kind used for Blusher. Always worked when I wanted to get the Dust off PC components. Cheaper than Canned Air though takes more time.

If it's just undercoated models, I just use a brush or if it's really bad just run them under the tap!

lostandthedamned wrote:Large Soft makeup brush.

Yep that works as ive tried, although if you are using the wifes dont get caught mid dust, apparently thats not what its for

Elvis

Sounds like the dust has adhered to the model's surface pretty well. If so, it's probably "glued down" with a combination of household dust, pollen, ariborne pollutants including cooking oils and grease. You'll probably need something to cut the dirt with.

I would try a test on one of the models. Try soaking it for a bit in warm water with dishwashing detergent. Over here I used a product called dawn, it's excellent at breaking up grease and doesn't strip the paint off of the model (for that I use something called Simple Green). After saoking, a rinse with a spray of warm water should do the trick. If you need to get any stubborn spots off, a soaking and then a soft scrub with a brush should finish it off. The a bit of an air dry and you'll be done.

I've use this technique in the past for some collectibles we had on a top shelf. Some were glazed but a few were painted and it worked very well. The washing solution keeps you from having to scrub too hard which could mar or ruin the surface.

Hope this works for you.

All good advice, but John hat sounds harsh, soaking in water. None of my models are sealed with matt varnish etc. Will they be ok? I'm worried the paint will soften and then come off

I haven't had that happen with mild dishwashing liquid.
But even if some did come off, you said most were just primed so far correct? So a little touch up wouldn't be noticed.

timewizard wrote:So a little touch up wouldn't be noticed.

Said the sister superior to the seraphim.

Nige,

Buy a shaving brush. They are a fairly robust brush that shouldn't scratch the surface of your models. Have owned a couple over the years but they have never been used for shaving with. Dusting models and weapon cleaning are what they're good for.

Lee

For average dust I use a soft brush as some of the gents above have mentioned, other than that compressed air. Now if only you knew of a computer shop somewhere that might sell it for cleaning pc innards....

mattjgilbert wrote:

timewizard wrote:So a little touch up wouldn't be noticed.

Said the sister superior to the seraphim.

Cheers for that one Matt! It's been awhile since we had some good double entendres picked up!

Yes we have compressed air stu, and I will certainly be trying that one. Failing that though, sounds like my models might be taking a bath!

KInG wrote:Dusty models... and I'm not talking paint effects here or ForgeWorld powders; I mean the real deal... human skin type stuff

I don't see the problem.. a scratchbuild drop pod mr6 made me was covered in a black hard wearing (sand inc) paint thing.. Its sat on my open shelfs for 3 years.. the last time it came down WHW folks were amazed at my awesome wethering detail..
Nature has given us sucky painters a helping hand (note the time I actually set fire to a model to get a burnt effect actually turned out ok too.. but I think I fluked that totally )