Painting realistic shell casings?

[creading]

Anyone have any tips on painting brass shell casings to make them look real? All the 'brass' paints I have used end up looking too 'sparkly'
Thanks in advance.
C.

 

[kevin]

This is probably the best I've done, looks good enough for me.

I used this brass paint, then washes with some Vallejo dark browns. Took a scrap of sponge very lightly dabbed the brown color on some more. Drybrushed lightly with some off white and very little silver.

 

[creading]

Yeah, that looks pretty nice. I'll give it a shot.

Cheers,
C.

 

[BOATMAN]

YES Kevin i also think that your shells look very good an realistic
chrisb

 

[Jakko]

Paint the case a brass colour and then apply a brown wash to shade it. Real casings are not normally polished like brass on the mantlepiece, after all

Also, check references for the country and period you're building a model of. For example, from about the middle of the Second World War, German cases, both for large-calibre guns and small arms, were usually steel with a layer of lacquer over them — not brass. This gave large-calibre rounds a sort of brown or green metallic colour due to the translucent lacquer, while rifle ammo was simply green rather than looking like metal.

 

[BarleyBop]

In some cases, a tiny bit of bronze mixed in can mute the brass, along with the washes described above.

 

[BarleyBop]

a tiny bit of bronze

... and of all the Tamiya weathering dry palettes, the slightest touch of their Titanium seems to blend in with most situations.