Keeping shelf cars clean

[Mad Ax 9306]

Or, at present, any car, since there's no racing and they're all shelf cars 

My shelfers currently hang on brackets in my studio.  The studio is in the workshop, so it gets a fair bit of dust from power tools and spray booth, and also is wood-walled with carpet covering so it gets a lot of dust of its very own too.  Last week I took down a few cars that haven't been moved in a few months and they're both filthy.

Household polish and a microfibre cloth is good at cleaning lexan and painted ABS but I'm worried about what the polish does to decals.  If there's a lifting edge, I imagine the polish will attach the adhesive and make it worse.  More so, the microfibre tends to catch on any raised parts of the decals and lift them.  I'm not sure if an old T-shirt might be better?

Fitting glass or perspex cases isn't really practical given space constraints.

Anybody else have good suggestions?  What do you use?

[Superluminal 3750]

Air dusters?

[Wetman 417]

A good rub over with a very very very very lightly misted cloth usually. Just wave it at the water and thats damp enough Basically just enough to take the harshnes of the cloth and lube it to prevent scratches

[Aerobert 2125]

I use a Swiffer duster and / or a brush. But I only have to remove normal house dust.

[Super ally 412]

Plastic storage boxes with lids,no dust gets on cars,simple.

[Fabia130vRS 2098]

31 minutes ago, Super ally said:

Plastic storage boxes with lids,no dust gets on cars,simple.

this I have seen on collectors photos where they stack up 5 cars in one row. 

as I have only 5-6 cars, I take them off my display thingy once in a month and wipe them clean same as the display thing

sometimes I even take off every tire and use some real car tire cosmetic stuff to do the out walls of the tires with it, it gets really shine afterwards

[MadInventor 3884]

Air compressor. Also great for removing snow after running. Not that we see much snow in the South now.....

[Grumpy pants 4453]

My ex mother in law made me mini car covers to keep the dust of my models that I kept in the garage.

They work a treat 💥

[Mad Ax 9306]

45 minutes ago, MadInventor said:

Air compressor. Also great for removing snow after running. Not that we see much snow in the South now.....

Do you have trouble with the airgun lifting off the decals?  I have an airgun set up for cleaning swarf off parts but never tried it on an RC body (except when the scalers come back muddy)

[JYCM3 236]

I had some of my RC cars/trucks in Ikea glass display cabinet. Still get some very fine dust after few years. I use disposable Swiffer Duster which work well for me. Available everywhere and Amazon over here but not sure about UK.

[GTodd 1344]

Swiffers work amazingly well! The best thing to do is keep them out of direct light, and run them 😁.

I've got 3 kids, makes it easy.

[No Slack 454]

Tamiya has a product called "Modeling Wax" that works really well for polishing lexan and painted hard bodies. 

[Beetlemankurt 676]

Old T-Shirts have always worked well for me Mad Ax, never really had issues with decals lifting due to wiping them.

I always just cut them into suitable size squares/rectangles and use them as temporary car covers as well so dual use (with household dust at least).

You could probably still tuck em in somehow around the bumpers so they stay put hanging on the wall. Get too dusty just chuck 'em in the washing machine (the t-shirts, not the cars! he he.....).

Also used to use Pledge furniture polish as it is plastic safe and has dust repellent/anti static properties or something like that so it says.... Smells nice too :)...

Cheers kurt

[Mad Ax 9306]

14 hours ago, Beetlemankurt said:

I always just cut them into suitable size squares/rectangles and use them as temporary car covers as well so dual use (with household dust at least).

That's actually a neat idea!  I need to replace some of my T-shirts this year so I might have a few I can cut up to go over the cars.  Although it seems daft to have things "on display" and also "covered" at the same time.

I keep meaning to make a big cover for my MIDI keyboard as it's so hard to clean and makes the place look so untidy when it's 2mm deep in dust 

[Wooders28 4719]

19 hours ago, Mad Ax said:

Do you have trouble with the airgun lifting off the decals?  I have an airgun set up for cleaning swarf off parts but never tried it on an RC body (except when the scalers come back muddy)

If it's set to 10bar, and you aim it at the decals, then yes.

[J@mes 2326]

I have used a soft (paint) brush to dust cars, the other thing I do is give them a shower and drip dry them.

[Dakratfink 965]

On 1/4/2021 at 7:28 AM, MadInventor said:

Air compressor. Also great for removing snow after running. Not that we see much snow in the South now.....

I also do this when I run in snow 

[Blista 1519]

There might be some kind of spray wax that will keep bodies looking good, help repel dust, and will make it easier to clean them.  Wouldn't have a clue which to try since any of them might affect stickers or plastic.

[berman 5315]

36 minutes ago, Blista said:

There might be some kind of spray wax that will keep bodies looking good, help repel dust, and will make it easier to clean them.  Wouldn't have a clue which to try since any of them might affect stickers or plastic.

I use the Meguiars Ultimate Wax spray on both Poly and Styrene bodies...

I am meant to be using it on my 1:1s... 🤦‍♂️

[Blista 1519]

2 minutes ago, berman said:

I use the Meguiars Ultimate Wax spray on both Poly and Styrene bodies...

I am meant to be using it on my 1:1s... 🤦‍♂️

I know that feeling.  At least I only have the one car.  I promised myself to do a full decontamination of the paint, clay bar it, wash, then sealant, but my knee hurts a bit this morning soooo... 

[berman 5315]

1 minute ago, Blista said:

I know that feeling.  At least I only have the one car.  I promised myself to do a full decontamination of the paint, clay bar it, wash, then sealant, but my knee hurts a bit this morning soooo... 

Same here, was meant to do that to my Orthia over the holidays but got carried away with beers and bbqs, plus the wagon won't get in the garage 😬