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Anyone have any experience using these? Why use them over transfers? Any advice when using them?

They are three dimensional, and "pop" better. There's not much to advice - just make sure you have the flies to smooth out the areas where the brass was connected to the "sprue". Remember they can be bent into shape.

Lastly, Brass is not intended as a substitute to decals, each still has it's place and should be used where appropriate.

I used them, briefly, on my Dark Angels. I have now removed them! I don't know what the fuss is about. They are slightly 3 dimensional, but in my opinion detracted from the models. They would look good on buildings and scenery however.

Just my opinion!

on flat surfaces their pretty nice... but ive seen people trying to use them on on shoulderpads and they never manage to get them nice and flat

I have had experience of the smaller brass etch imperial aquillas sprue and i would agree that they look great on flat surfaces, tanks etc. but not on curved things like space marine shoulder pads as you can never seem to bend them sufficiently enough to lie 'flat' as it were on a curved surface.

Another thing to note is they can quite a pain to remove from the sprue and if you don't make the cut flush enough to the piece you are removing you can be left with an unsightly bit of brass 'tab' left on, for example, your aquilla wing. Quite hard to remove this without ruining the detail and uttering the odd curse!

I've seen a number of people try using them and get frustrated, all because they try and treat them like stickers, not three-dimensional metal objects. If you get the piece to conform to the underlying surface before you break out the adhesives, you should have no worries. Problems are bound to arise when you tack the middle of an aquila on a shin, then try to get the corners to lay flat by globbing on more and more superglue and poking it with your finger. Dry fit, adjust, repeat as necessary, then glue. Much like decals, it's a decent bit of work to do etched brass right on anything but a flat, smooth surface, but the results can be well worth it.

Yep, as oadie says brass is a good bit different from decals. You don't use them in the same way - and there is a completely different learning curve to them.

One thing to keep in mind is that being metal - you can bend...stretch...and even shrink the material in any direction. I will often use a set of mandrels and a dapping punch set when I need to do things other than flat.

You can shape them to the same curves as you might find on a leg or gun barrel (curved in just one direction) or something like a shoulder pad (curved in every direction). Once the metal has been curved and formed - you can then get it to lay perfectly on the plastic/metal/resin object that you want to mount it to.

Removing things like the tabs from the fret of the brass etching also require some tools (well - not require, but it makes things easier). Xuron makes an excellent set of cutters to remove the objects from the sheet. After that, a set of ducksbill pliers to hold the part after it has been cut and a good set of cut files to remove any remnant of the fret tab. The pliers are able to hold flat objects firmly without damaging the surface. Cut files are excellent at removing harder metals like brass and stainless steel.

I actually end up using a lot of etched brass myself - though not from Forgeworld. Most is stuff that I make myself, and it allows a certain level of freedom of design which is hard to achieve with putty or plastic. When I want to do up something which is uniform across a dozen figures - I can create a resist sheet...etch the brass and adhere it to the dozen figures where each etching is the same as the last. Since the files are vector based, I can scale them up or down so that something like a logo on a vest is identical to the logo on the side of the vehicle.

I could cast them - but unless I need a bunch of one thing...it really isn't worth the cost of the rubber for the mold, not to mention storing the mold and the rest of the issues related to casting.