Having spent a long time on long range type aircraft, like Lockheed P3 and B747, the potential for these sorts of problems was always there.
I got into the habit of carrying 'wet-ones' and a good dry paint brush, to get out all that dust, dirt and crumbs that gets down into the control heads, especially on the center instrument pedistal.
Lots of time to get a reasonable job done most flights!
Cheers...FD...
