Yo B....

...welcome aboard I'd say. Yeah, I know you from the youtube channel and I like wat I see. Straight to the point, wat ya see, is wat ya get. Further more, you are doing a great job for the younger model railroaders community. (cfr. the free give away weathering projects, etc etc). Maybe, MRH having you here might live up our weekly movie monday....who knows. Myself being from Belgium (Europe) I have a, considered by some, bad European taste of humour and even I am "lmao" on the "in your face style" and "silly" jokes. I am sure some of the members here will go, " om, here goes the MRH hood ", but I am glad having you here. BTW, wat took you so long? lol.  The only thing, I wouldn't refer to you as the Tupac of model railroading, since we all know wat happened to him and that would be again a loss, to our community. Just keep riding them spinners, 22's, no less...(for the blonds, lol, read, keep up the good work)...................peace, out.

Welcome Al

I have to ask too.  What took you so long to get here man?

I followed a link to your youtube channel from a hastily deleted thread elsewhere and checked out what you are doing.  Seems like good stuff to me, and your self described, "in your face style" didn't tweak my melon at all.

Sure I know who you are.  Who has frequented that "other" model railroad forum who does not know the name Al Mayo, the arch nemisis of some of the "old ladies" who moderate things over there.

I've heard a lot about you man.  I hope to see you contributing to the positive environment here at MRH.  Looking forward to seeing more of your work.  Going to check out your layout now.

Once again, welcome to the forum

OK, Sorry, I have to ask.......

Is all the veiled references in your post BH, to the Model Trains Weathered group?

Just need to know, and I will leave it at that.

Thanks,

RAH

No problem

Ralph,

Nope.  I have never been there.  Sending you a PM.

Weathering

Al,

Went to your youtube channel and checked out the job you did on the Canadian Cylindrical Hopper car.  Nice weathering man!

Got a real good laugh out of the shower scene, LOL!

 Thanks guys.  I can tell you

Thanks guys.  I can tell you what has taken me so long.  I really love the video interaction the most.  Plus I really get to express my self without any "moderation"  but i will be a good guy here.  I will not say ANYTHING.  I really have learned to express my opinions on Youtube and away from text forums.  So I promise to be cool.     I love model railroading and I am just full of crazy energy in this hobby.  Just about everything i do is exciting because I make it that way not that it is always fun.  I make it fun.   MOST of the guys over at WTW are... nevermind.  Lets just say they do not like me, aww well.   No sweat.    Anyway I am here for fun!!  Not hateing.  Let the fun begin!!

You are most welcome

Glad to hear it Al!  I look forward to keeping up with your youtube efforts.  Your doing some nice video editing too btw.

Video is one of the really fun things about MRH.  You can easily embed a youtube video in a post if you want guys here to see it.

I can hear and see your enthusiasm for the hobby and it's contagious!  Watching that weathering video makes me want to grab a piece of rolling stock and get going!

I try not to judge others too much if I can avoid it and I certainly don't take second hand rumors as an indication of what a guy is like.  I like to find out for myself, so regardless of who likes you or doesn't elsewhere, you're a good guy to me until you show me otherwise.

Al

Cool videos man. Youre weathering techniques are pretty interesting. Nice to see other young faces enjoying the hobby. I dont model modern era but I like looking at other peoples modern stuff.... Especially when its good. Cheers

Nice to have you over here at

Nice to have you over here at MRH!

I have been checking out your videos and can't stop!  It's difficult to support my boy Manning and watch Youtube at the same time ya know?!?

I do have a question... with your weathering dip technique do you run into any problems with the wheels or couplers?  I see it both ways as being a major problem with sticking, or none at all since the solution is so diluted.

Just curious... but keep up the excellent work, its awesome to see the work in progress, rather than a finished product and a sacred secret how it got there.

Josh

Yo! Right back at ya

Al, good to see that others are here that believe in speaking the truth.  Like the others, I've seen your videos and like 'em.  I think I know what others forums were being referenced.  The moderators there want everybody to hold hands around the campfire and sing songs instead of allowing any actual discussion to take place that might have opposing views to their own.

Al, just remember that Yo is just Oy spelled backwards.

Weather dippin anser

 When I do the weather dipping I leave on the couplers but remove the wheels to get the custom weathering done.  BUT there is NO issue at all with sticking on the couplers or wheels.  I do not know how exactly but there is not.  The couplers still work fine and they get weathered at the same time.  The weather dippin technique that I have created works so well that I use it often.  It is definitely the easiest way to turn an ugly shiny plastic new rollingstock to come out looking realistically weathered.  It requires very little work to get it right and do A LOT in one day.  I will not teach or show a technique that i DO NOT believe in.  If you follow those steps I show to 'WEATHER DIPPIN'  You are going to have a nice model.  It is for the guys that do not want to try to weather yet but do NOT like shiny new.  Weather dipping is 10+ years of dirty rain and snow done in 5 minutes.  Then you can add graffiti to the model and you have a 'MONSTERPIECE'  Thats my new word!  LOL  

I will always do my best to show exactly how I do it.  I have PLENTY of haters but I do not get upset or sad, I love haters!  Haters remind me that I am getting better and better.  they remind me that I am successful to an extent.  Tupac always said you know when you are successful and that is when you have people hating on what you do just to hate.  

So on another note.   Who is going to West Springfield train show next weekend January 30 and 31st?  Iw ill be there both days wilding out!!  I am going to have so much fun!!  It would be nice to meet more people too.  

Watched a couple videos on YouTube

I have to say I enjoyed the two videos I watched, including the weather dipping.  I plan to look through more of your videos when I get to doing more weathering.  Its always nice to see different ways of doing things that work for people.  Keep up the good work. 

West Sprinfield Big E Show

 Be sure to drop by the MRH Booth at the Springfield Big E show, (Booth 132 in the Mallary building), and say hello!

Wesy Springfield Big E Show

 Well I will come by and say whats up!!   You will NOT be able to miss me.  I will be the brown buy with baggy clothes, a doorag and a huge grin on my face as I strut around busting jokes and having fun!!  

I will be in the same building as the clinics with my Railroad club, Mohegan & Pequot Railroad Club.  Well for a short period of time I will.  I will mainly be all around the place SPENDING BIG MONEY baby!!  I am also heading out to get a custom shirt made with my name BIG AL MAYO or MONSTERRAILROAD MAN.  Oooh reminds me I have to get out and do this now!

Oeace guys

Big Al Mayo   

PS   I will be uploading two new videos today so check them out.  One is a contest I am doing that I am giving away a brand new 'MONSTERPIECE' (My new Trademark)  I built two great models last night and I will be editing the videos of how I built them.  I did this one Up Covered hopper that is OFF THE HOOK!!  Check it out if you want!

HEY AL

Nice to see you here too I just happen to stumble on in here about an hour ago, I see your kinda new too. Boy its a small world when you start bumping into people on the internet, lol.. hope too see more of u stuff here too but dont give up utube  videos are great and looking forward to the next  contest to. by the way checked out ur ebay site thought you would have more.... planning on taking a couple home with me... let us know how your show goes to... yr friend teekaho

Weather Dippin

Yeah I thought the weather dippin was really neat too.  I'm in the same boat, no experience with weathering.  I do have an airbrush that I inherited from my father, but I have not used it yet myself.

Weather dippin looks really easy to do.

'Weather Dippin'

 Hey fellas

Before I bought an airbrush ($34.99 free shipping from Ebay) I also had NO experience with using one and i didnt even want to learn.  I will not lie.  I was very intimidated by messing with an airbrush.  Ok so years pass and I bought one.  I only use Walmart Acrylic paints and they do NOT clog up the airbrush and you DO NOT have to spend forever to set it up and worst of all CLEAN IT UP!!  In fact sometimes I leave the paint right there inside of the bottle on the airbrush.  The next day I come back and it works fine.  

But back to the story.  before I started the airbrush last year I simply faded everything down using a 1" brush.  I made the mix a little bit less thick because of brush strokes would appear if it was put on to thick.  I just mixed and tried until I was satisfied.   The main thing about slowly apply this fade mix is it will allow the waeter dippin mix to spread evenly on the model and not pool in areas leaving a BLOTCHY model.  The plastic model will not allow the weather dippin to spread smoothly so it needs a base.  The fade mix is it.  

You can fade it down just twice and not even notice much of a fade BUT it is now ready to be dipped!!  

I suggest get a cheap Airbrush like I use ($34.99) but you DO NOT need one.  I think it is a little bit easier and you will be able to dry the layers much faster than brushing it on.

So that is the first step to weather dippin.   Easy and the results do look 100 times better than a shiny new boxcar going by or a boxcar that is just dirty in a half ass attempt of weathering.  The end results look realistic and believable.  Its the alternative to CUSTOM DOING EACH PIECE.  You can knock out 10 models in a couple hours time.

get to it now!  LOL

Monsterrailroad

A small suggestion for Big Al

Hey Big Al,

I'm enjoying your videos and appreciating your running commentary on everything trains, products and model railroad culture.

Could I recommend the following site with some great tips on viewer-engaging videos?   http://cprailmmsub.blogspot.com/2009/10/video-guidelines.html 

I say this carefully because you've clearly established your niche with a video camera and I applaud you for it. Nonetheless, all things are open to critique and my single critique of your work is that it can, at times, give me motion sickness when I'm viewing your videos in full-screen mode. The shaky camera work can sometimes obscure the broader point that you're making and it lessens the educational quality of the whole piece. 

Yet you're making some very helpful videos and I'm a fan of much of your ideas and suggestions. The graffiti video and the Saskatchewan grain car project are two of my favourites! Keep up the great work!