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, Citadel Colour, Vallejo Game Color, Army Painter Colour Primer, Army Painter Fanatic, Reaper MSP, Vallejo Xpress Color, Vallejo Hobby Spray, AK Interactive 3rd Gen, Army Painter Speedpaint, Scale75 Scalecolor, Monument Pro Acryl, Vallejo Weathering Effects, Vallejo Diorama FX, AK Interactive Diorama Series, AK Interactive Artist Dense Acrylic, Vallejo Model Wash, Vallejo Game Color Effects, Army Painter Warpaints, Army Painter Quickshade, 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.