The Return of the Grafffiti King --- Vandalism BECOMES ARTWORK

[Big_Boy_4005]

Well gang, we have beaten the morality issues surrounding graffiti to death!!! Now comes the modeling payoff!!! This is why I like to take pictures of graffiti. Actually, when removed from it's context, it is simply art.


This car


becomes this artwork after some simple manipulation.

Time to make the decals!!

[:D]

By the way, I have a few others ready, and will be working on more. If anyone wants any of this artwork, just drop me an email.[;)]

[Anonymous]

Getting pretty sophisticated. Nice!

[Anonymous]

Great, give us your home address and we'll have some "artists" over to do you house and car.

Dave H.

[Big_Boy_4005]

Actually Dave, I think this stuff would inprove my car. I drive a white 1993 GMC pickup, and the paint is starting to peel on the doors. Maybe I'll get some bumper sticker material, but it will have to be seeled pretty well, or the weather will wash it out.

I need to do some resizing to get it on the trains. It is still a little large for O scale.

Here are some more.





This image came from a photo of a box car posted on another members web page. It is really not necessary to email me to get the ones I post here. Simply right click and copy, then you can resize them too.



This one was never on a railroad car. It was a wall mural in Chicago. It may even have been authorized, but I'm not sure. I'll have to recheck the website.

[FJ and G]

Elliot,

Perhaps you can help us form local graffiti clubs. We could go out late at night and spraypaint cars on lonely sidings. Each of us could come armed with 3 or four cans of various spray paint colors, a couple of Saturday night specials for defensive purposes and maybe even some cans of dullcoat so that the spray paint doesn't look too shiny.

While we are at it, a couple of guys with testor's rust paint can weather freight cars that look too new or clean; and perhaps dent a few with sledgehammers to make them look even more realistic than they are.

Then we could photograph our work and go back home and detail our freight cars the same. Lets call our group, Model Railroaders in the Hood.

dav

[Big_Boy_4005]

Actually Dave, if you are into original artwork like that, wouldn't it be easier to cut out the "middle man" and just put it straight on the models?[swg] There is probably enough to choose from, so as to not have to create new anyway.

And for those who don't like graffiti, check out the Google ads on the side of this page!!![(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][;)]

[Anonymous]

I personally think that model trains look pretty good with grafiti.

Not every car, but a few in the group, it just adds that extra realism, especially if the grafiti is actually pretty good looking.

A little grafiti and a little weathering and away you go!

[lupo]

QUOTE: Originally posted by nhs792

Great, give us your home address and we'll have some "artists" over to do you house and car.

Dave H.

Just for travel costs l volunteer to come over and do the job for free!
BTW I prefer a compressor and spray-gun over cans [8D] [8D]

[Roadtrp]

QUOTE: Originally posted by nhs792

Great, give us your home address and we'll have some "artists" over to do you house and car.

Dave H.

Geez, guys. Give Elliot a break. He didn't say he supported vandalism. He didn't say that vandalism was justified because it produced art. He said that REMOVED FROM IT'S CONTEXT it is simply art.

And I don't think anyone can disagree with that too much. [:)]

[cwclark]

I gotta know what you do with the paint before you start?....got braincells?

[Anonymous]

A retired employee of a rail line admitted that he had painted thousands of cars while he was working for the RR company. His graffitti was famous as it was quite artistic... finally he wanted world to know...

[lupo]

QUOTE: Originally posted by cwclark

I gotta know what you do with the paint before you start?....got braincells?

I dillute the paint with all kind off thinners (fast or slow) and retarder !
about my braincells:
not as many as I had when I was young, but that is another story (OPS)
when working with paint and organic solvents allways use good air filters (gasmask type) and not just a dust cover!
allways ventilate your workspace!.

[AntonioFP45]

[V][sigh][B)][*^_^*]

[lupo]

QUOTE: Originally posted by AntonioFP45

[V][sigh][B)][*^_^*]

[#ditto]

as soon as grafitty comes up some people start reacting like they been running on vapors for some time,
let's just look at the artistic side of it , can you model a modern RR without grafitty ? It seems to be around allmost everywhere

[FJ and G]

The heyaday of graffiti art on the NY transit was from 1971 to 1986; the Golden Age, if you will. I think you will gain an appreciation or at least a certain respect for this artform if you do a quick read of this history of art on the following website; then look at a picture on the next website. I quit riding the NY subways in 1969 and moved upstate, missing that Golden Age, so my memory is of just plain grimy subway cars, nice in their own way, but without the graffiti, thus, like most of you, my bias is for graffiti-free cars.

However, if you look at some of the artwork, like Elliot has displayed, I think that at the very least, you will recognize some talent, wasted perhaps, but talent nonetheless:

History of graffiti
http://www.daveyd.com/historyofgraf.html

Transit art in the Bronx:
http://photoarts.com/cooper/graffiti/artvstransit.html

Dave Vergun

[Anonymous]

Now now guys... [:D]

You must remember that this is a model railroader forum for people to come on and express Ideas.

What I am saying is: Don't flame the guy just because he brings up the idea of Graffiti.

If you look at a prototype railroad (Like my area, and I don't live in a big city!) There is graffiti everywere on these cars! Boxcars appear to be a favorite. flatcars tend to not get any. The only ones to not get any graffiti would be new cars and locomotives (Because of the people present on the loco.

If it make any of you feel better, a guy trying to put some graffiti on the roof of a commuter train stood up and got fried by the overhead wires. Happy now?

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by FJ and G

Lets call our group, Model Railroaders in the Hood.

dav

How about "Ghetto Model Railroaders". Count me in, it'll be fun! It's illegal, but fun! So I guess it'd be illegal fun. But how can fun be illegal?[:0][?]................[:p]

[AntonioFP45]

Sorry guys,

But Ghetto?!!! Why are we glorifying the "Ghetto"? I lived in it a few years. My mother was mugged one year and my dad's car was stolen (later recovered).[B)]

Many of us spend so much energy trying to get across to young people that there is absolutely nothing cool about the ghetto, graffitti and the "nuances" associated with it!

Stands to reason that a number of the young people reading these threads are going to use this to justify the "ghetto" life, and spraying "art" (graffitti) on freight cars as a cool way to spend time. Even integrate it as part of their model railroading. Yes, it's everywhere, but now it seems that; intentionally or not, it's being encouraged on the Model Railroader Forum!![V]

Sorry guys, you've been wonderful responding to my other posts, but this one really cuts deeper than you realize if you really thing about it. Liberal "while-washing" does not help our influential younger generation at all!

[Big_Boy_4005]

Don't worry guys, I have very thick skin. If I didn't think I could take the heat, I wouldn't bother to discuss it.

Really, this topic isn't about the graffiti as much as it is about capturing images in the real world using a digital camera, and transfering them to models, through some medium run through your printer.

In this case the graffiti happens to be my image of choice, but this technique works well for other things, like logos or building windows. I have even done houses using a similar method where a photo of a house was laminated onto plexiglass, and the windows were cut out by hand, and the flat building lighted. The houses were done the old fashioned way on photo paper, and were expensive. I'm dreaming of what I could do with today's technology.

Just because you aren't interested in the images I've posted here this time, doesn't mean that there isn't something of value to be learned. I am working on other things beside graffiti.

As I was driving down the freeway today, I saw a semi trailer that was basicly a Marine recruitment billboard. If I hadn't been going 70 MPH, and had had a good shot, I would have captured that image too.[swg]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by 4884bigboy

QUOTE: Originally posted by FJ and G

Lets call our group, Model Railroaders in the Hood.

dav

How about "Ghetto Model Railroaders". Count me in, it'll be fun! It's illegal, but fun! So I guess it'd be illegal fun. But how can fun be illegal?[:0][?]................[:p]

We'll be walkin' in the backstreet alleys of East St. Louis or South LA or maybe even Queens, New York, packing Colt 45's, wearing our hats backwards, repainting NS locomotives in Wabash or NKP paint....[:D][8D][;)][:p][}:)][:)]

Sorry, 4884BigBoy, but I'm a Country Boy now and forever!

And I can't stand wearing a hat backwards[xx(], in fact the only thing I wrote that I would support would be NS repainting it's roster in WABASH and NKP colors![:D]

[METRO]

Well regardless of the moral/ethical argument, I think that the photos are a great Idea and I'm gonna start scanning some from my colection.

I also have some magazines with some absolutely amazing graf in them and I'm gonna make decals out of those too.

The one big question I have always had with the graf is how do the artist/vandal/whatevers find a car that is parked in one place long enough to paint them without getting caught?

[dharmon]

Elliot,

That's some nice work you did pulling editing the photos to make decals. I agree with you that if you remove it from it's medium it can be art, just as any number of other things.....It's the choice of canvas that makes it distasteful. Alot of misdirected energy.

As far as graffiti goes though...like it or not it's a fixture on modern RRs. Decal companies are making graffiti slides that adorn some of my cars. Not as art but as a reflection of how cars look today. I think of it as a part of the weathering for some of my stock. Here's two examples from my own "fleet" and I have others that have been tagged....and I'm planning to do more.

[Javern]

yes it's illegal but likely will NEVER cease to be around, it's part of railroad history and lore, I think it's ok for those of us that model and enjoy it.

[FJ and G]

Metro,

Another thing I find amazing is that you never (very rarely) see a container or trailer (TOFC) painted with graffiti; just fixed cars like boxcars, hoppers and reefers.

dharmon,

I like your "weathering"

Dave Vergun

[dharmon]

QUOTE: Originally posted by FJ and G

Metro,

Another thing I find amazing is that you never (very rarely) see a container or trailer (TOFC) painted with graffiti; just fixed cars like boxcars, hoppers and reefers.

dharmon,

I like your "weathering"

Dave Vergun

If you look closely at the hopper on the left...some jack@$$ wrote his name there is big block letters....[:)]

[Roadtrp]

[swg][swg][swg][swg][swg]

-Jerry

[dharmon]

QUOTE: Originally posted by FJ and G

Metro,

Another thing I find amazing is that you never (very rarely) see a container or trailer (TOFC) painted with graffiti; just fixed cars like boxcars, hoppers and reefers.

dharmon,

I like your "weathering"

Dave Vergun

Sorry Dave , I forgot to say thanks.

I think the choice of mediums is a function of where types of cars are left unattended. I have seen trailers and containers that have been tagged, but I have a feeling that was done while not on the rails. Intermodals tend to not sit around in yards or sidings for too long and the IM terminals are usually gated and guarded.

Dan

[Big_Boy_4005]

QUOTE: Originally posted by FJ and G

Metro,

Another thing I find amazing is that you never (very rarely) see a container or trailer (TOFC) painted with graffiti; just fixed cars like boxcars, hoppers and reefers.

dharmon,

I like your "weathering"

Dave Vergun

Actually, yesterday I spent a couple of hours down by the tracks. I did see some on some containers and semi trailers, but much less than on the cars themselves. I think this says something about railroads, and how the cars themselves move, or rather don't move for longer periods.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by cjm89

QUOTE: Originally posted by 4884bigboy

QUOTE: Originally posted by FJ and G

Lets call our group, Model Railroaders in the Hood.

dav

How about "Ghetto Model Railroaders". Count me in, it'll be fun! It's illegal, but fun! So I guess it'd be illegal fun. But how can fun be illegal?[:0][?]................[:p]

We'll be walkin' in the backstreet alleys of East St. Louis or South LA or maybe even Queens, New York, packing Colt 45's, wearing our hats backwards, repainting NS locomotives in Wabash or NKP paint....[:D][8D][;)][:p][}:)][:)]

Sorry, 4884BigBoy, but I'm a Country Boy now and forever!

And I can't stand wearing a hat backwards[xx(], in fact the only thing I wrote that I would support would be NS repainting it's roster in WABASH and NKP colors![:D]

Hey, I agree. I was only joking. I can't stand wearing hats backwards, either! I'm a Michigander and proud of it. No ghetto hear (atleast I thought there was none till I went to Detriot[;)]) But, repainting locos in thier old rold scheme does sound interesting. I wish modern roads would do more of that.[:(]

[Anonymous]

I myself am very much opposed to graffiti and consider it to be vandalism, no matter how artistic it is, but as others have said, it is something that has become a part of modern railroads whether we like it or not. Here are a few interesting photos I've found on the net of graffitied trains.





I must say that these cars pictured above certainly impressed me, perhaps because of the fact that they actually represent something as opposed to being just some mindless writing that noone can read. These cars would make some very interesting models.

It isn't just freight cars that these guys go after, just look at this UP unit.


This next photo makes me want to go and hunt down whoever's responsible!

Actually, this GG1 is owned by the B&O Museum and has been sitting where it is since 1985. It's really sad to see it like this. It also happens to be the GG1 that was involved in a big crash in Washington, D.C. Union Station in 1953.


These are a couple more that I just found interesting.



If you want ideas for those decals, Elliot, try this website http://www.graffiti.org/trains/index.trains.html . It does glorify graffiti and all the morons that to do it, but it does have tons of photos. Interestingly enough, trains.com is included in their links section.