Don't have Steel? Get a free step-by-step guide using the paints you own.
Make a free guideLooking for a Steel equivalent? Below are the closest cross-brand color matches to Steel (Vallejo Metal Color) in Vallejo Model Color, Army Painter Fanatic, Vallejo Game Color, ranked by CIE76 deltaE color distance. Use them as substitutes, or generate a painting guide from the paints you actually own and let PaintGuide handle the matching and mixing for you.
Closest match in each brand
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Shade & highlight partners
Suggested shadow and highlight colors for Steel, picked from the full catalog by color science — not paints you own. Shadows stay richer when they lean cool; pure black just flattens them. Highlights read best warmer and a touch softer than the base; pure white bleaches them out.
- Shade 2Dark GunmetalVallejo Game ColorRough match
- Shade 1Gunmetal GreyVallejo Metal ColorGreat match
- BaseSteelVallejo Metal Color
- Highlight 1Semi Matte AluminiumVallejo Metal ColorGreat match
- Highlight 2White AluminiumVallejo Metal ColorGreat match
Mix starting points — real pigment blends shift a little; adjust by eye.
Your paints, one journey — the blends between them live here.
Don't have Steel? Paint with what you own.
PaintGuide builds a step-by-step guide for your miniature using only the paints in your collection — matching colors across brands and giving exact mixing recipes for anything you're missing.
Make a free guide with your paintsMatches are computed by converting each paint's color to CIELAB and measuring CIE76 deltaE distance. A “great match” (deltaE < 3) is very close to the eye; a “close match” is a usable substitute. Finish, opacity, and coverage still differ between brands, so test on primer when it matters.