Check out my Blender 3D trumpet, broheim. I made this using a source image from Google in the background as a guide. It was actually quite easy to do. I did most of the tubing by extruding a circle continuously and then occasionally bending it with the Spin tool. I used subsurf modifiers to round out the shape and then some mean creases to get the edges tight along the tubing. Finally, I solidified the bell, applied the chrome and brass materials and rendered it. A few weeks ago, I posted an unfinished version on Facebook and several experienced trumpet players in my friends list didn’t see the glaring omission of the bracing between the mouthpiece tube and the bell.
I have a trombone that I’ll share soon. I may just use Blender to do all the musical instruments.
I’m very happy with the new Cycles rendering engine in Blender. I used to have to use Yafaray and hope that the build worked OK. There’s still great work being done with Yafaray but I think I like Cycles best for its convenience. Besides, this looks great on its own.