I have come across several realistic free instrumental soundfonts (SF2) and VST’s over the years, but I am looking to see what other people have found. I am not looking to spend any money right now, so please only reference free plugins you have found. I am specifically looking for quality strings, brass, and war drums. I have searched through many databases, but nobody seems to own free realistic versions of these sounds.
Have you gone to http://www.soundfonts.it , http://www.hammersound.com/ ?
Some decent SF2s there 
These two vstis: http://www.chineekong.com/free.htm
are amazing. I used one of them on my track “Sweet Flutes”:http://audiojungle.net/item/sweet-flutes/17222
Yes, I love that MiniErhu vsti.
Here are some free “piano” vst’s that are good:
Thanks TomH for sharing those two VSTs, they really are great. Does anybody have any idea of where to find good strings, brass, or war drums? I’ve even searched the databases you have referenced, but have found nothing useful.
The only free strings or brass I came across were made by “DSK”:http://www.dskmusic.com/blog called DSK Brass and DSK Strings. They’re not amazing, but worth a try.
I also used to get soundfonts from “here”:http://soundfonts.homemusician.net/ and play them as a VSTi using “SFZ Player”:http://www.project5.com/products/instruments/sfz_player/default.asp