'Cleaning' / Dusting Miniatures

[Astartes Consul]

So, hypothetically if you had a load of half painted miniatures that you had left on a shelf during some building work in your house, and then had in some very dusty boxes while moving house, how would you go about cleaning them properly so you could finish them?

 

 

[Gederas]

So, hypothetically if you had a load of half painted miniatures that you had left on a shelf during some building work in your house, and then had in some very dusty boxes while moving house, how would you go about cleaning them properly so you could finish them?

Well, this is going to sound really stupid but:

 

Brand new/unused for painting Medium Scenery Brush

 

It's what I use to dust off my models, because the brush is huge, and the bristles are very soft :lol:

[Aarik]

I think the best bet would be to get a large, soft brush and brush the dust off each one.  I've tried using an airbrush to just shoot air and dust off minis, but it doesn't get it all off.  So i think any sort of similar compressed air would be less than effective.

[Mazer Rackham]

 

Well, this is going to sound really stupid but:

 

Brand new/unused for painting Medium Scenery Brush

 

It's what I use to dust off my models, because the brush is huge, and the bristles are very soft

 

 

If it's stupid, but works, it isn't stupid! ;)

 

My favourite implement for this hypothetical cleaning is a pastry brush.

 

What?   I washed it after...! 

 

MR.

[MegaVolt87]

Any really soft bristle large art brush will do. Also might be time to invest in foam + box/bag storage to keep dust out. You already pay $$$ for the mini's its crazy to not spend the money in proper storage and transport for them to keep them safe from damage IMO. 

[Fajita Fan]

Canned air?

[Son of Sacrifice]

I use my airbrush. I've also run models under the tap before.

[Subtle Discord]

Best solution I've found is a good quality 1-2" wall painting brush with natural hair bristles. Unlike synthetic bristle brushes the natural hair tapers down to a very fine point that is flexible enough not to harm the paint-job (even if it's in progress) but just stiff enough to remove that stubborn residual dust that clings to surfaces even if you hit it with a blast of air. I despise dust, but I've also got a studio where I do lots of sanding and cats that require cat boxes so there's just no way to avoid it. I've learned how to deal with it, but I still hate it, and constantly struggle with it.

[Brother Casman]

So, I do most of my dusting-off-models with what my makeup wearing friends refer to as a cheap, large powder brush. Soft, long bristles to get into all the little nooks and crannies. Something like this one at Walmart.

[Archaeinox]

A very thin fan brush. You can do it pretty face over fiddly-bitz and it wont break them. I prefer this to cans because sometimes dust particles wont go away just because you blast them.. Especially if you use 'ard coat.

 

I was only attracted to this post because I saw the word dust. 

 

I am like a moth. To dust. All is dust. Or something.

[Ciler]

Same as all the others, a simple large soft brush. My house is very dusty (courtesy of the local weather), and models can sit on my paint station for months on end untouched. I use a large soft brush that I inherited from my grandfather who had purchased it to clean dust off the track of his LP records.

[Xenith]

Large, soft brush. I think I had a 1/2" wide one that was never used for painting. Now I use a GW tank/large base brush.

[Grimoire]

Only two words needed here:

 

Cosmetic Brush

 

New of course :)

[Marshal Rohr]

Throwing my hat in with cosmetic brush. I used a compressor to blow the makeup pigments out of one my sister had and it works a charm. Also running under a tap and then using a large brush will work for unsealed models without transfers