Hello Everyone!

I am new to the group, so wanted to introduce myself, but also pose a question to everyone out there. Lately I have been looking at a lot of diorama/afv images and have noticed a lot of really great shell casing treatments. Can anyone tell me how to get them really shiny, like real brass? I know there are brass aftermarket shells available, but I already have the shells-- just want a step up from what I have been able to do with regular ol' brass paint. Any suggestions would be great! Thanx!

You could either go with a buffable brass paint from Model Master, which allows you to polish it a little to make it shine, or you could try some adhesive backed foil in brass color. The paint needs to be airbrushed on and you need a dremel tool or similar to buff it up well. The foil is a little difficult to work with but gets very good results with practice. Both can typically be found in your local hobby shop or online.

Rob

Put a gloss coat on them.Lacquer,enamel,or Future floor coating.
Welcome to Armorama!
cheers!

Ciao Furry,
Another avenue is to get a brass colored sharpie and use it on the shells. Then put future on them or leave them as is.
Ciao for now
Rob

What country's equipment are you modelling? If late WW2 German, conversly although there are sets of brass shells a-plenty for Tigers, Panthers etc, in fact the German were using drawn or rolled steel shell cases by then, to economise on the brass needed for the fuses. So really they should be dull silver/steel. In fact they were even using steel cartridge cases in small arms; these could of course rust, which led to frequent jams, especially in weapons with a high rate of fire e.g. MG42.

Thanks for the responses gang! Now to decide which one to try!

I have seen the "metalizer" paint, but it seemed like a lot of work to airbrush a few small shells. Plus I am not thrilled with airbrushing enamels in my basment (I use mainly acrylics).

What am I modelling? Right now I have about 4 projects in the works (who doesn't?), but this question was prompted by a Sherman Firefly/ Marder IIIM diorama I am working out. The shells are actually PAK 40 rounds (August '44). So, Hohenstauffen-- brass or steel?

Thanks again for the welcome, all!

Try this, I found it in the features section.......

https://armorama.kitmaker.net//features/277

Welcome to Armorama!
As for your question, in your initial post, I thought you were talking small arms, so I took this:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/eighteenbravo2003/detail?.dir=ef39&.dnm=fbaf.jpg

As you can see, they're not really that shiny. In fact, the lighting in my work area makes them look even shinier in the pic. The more you handle these (unloading and reloading mags on a daily basis) the more oxidized they become.

Since you're talking PAK 40 ammo, I can only tell you what I've seen on modern guns. 105mm separate loading ammo, very dull aluminum. Brass shell casings on various calibers of ammo-very dull brass-fresh out of the box. Of course it had been buried, but I don't think that affected its appearance.
I've seen the turned brass aftermarket items, and have several packages of Tamiya's turned aluminum or stainless 105 casings, I'm not sure which, but I find it all unrealistically shiny. I'd paint it brass, and dull-cote it, rather than shine it up.

Welcome to Armorama Doug. As far as the metalizer pants from MM goes, I use a brush to apply it with great results. Try it, I think that you will like the results.

If it's late 1944, I'd say steel, but if you like the look of polished brass don't let me put you off! BTW I'm looking @ three WW1 18Pdr shell cases on the shelf as I write this. Despite the fact I shine them up with Brasso once in a while, they still go dull quite quickly, in fact they look remarkably like brass paint!

Doug, welcome to Armorama. As you can see by your first post here, we are a great group of people, all of us willing and wanting to help one another.
So welcome to the family and I hope you enjoy your stay. Cheers Kevin

Thanks again to everyone for the tips! I have a lot of new ideas for this project an the next.... I am really enjoying the group, and will look forward to posting in some of the other forums in the future.

Thanks again!