The Eurobricks MCW Color Matching Paint Database

[Wardancer]

Among the most difficult tasks in customizing is finding paint that matches the colour of lego parts. I spent a fortune once on 5 different paints in trying to find a suitable dark blue.

This thread, therefore, is the attempt to collect information on paints that match official lego colors. If many participate, it can be a useful tool that saves time and money.

I suggest the following format:

Offical Lego color to be matched in Bricklink terminology bold in size 5

Name of paint

Brand

Country paint bought in

estimated degree of similarity, see below for values

optional: small (!) picture which shows paint used or link to picture

optional: short additional remark

for example:

Dark Blue

Aquamarine Blue [fictional example]

Citatel/Games Workshop Paint

Germany, but internationally available

70%

looks dry different from wet, add a drop of black to increase matching, almost as black as the megablocks of a black buffalo in a moonless prairy night

Suggestion about similarity values:

100% = If you apply that paint to a Lego part of the same colour, no difference would be noticable.

90% = very high similarity

80% = pretty good

70% = better than nothing

60% and worse = can be regardes as different colour

Customizers, now it is up to you if this kicks off or not.

Edited January 11, 2012 by Wardancer

[Wardancer]

Update: Feb 2016: better recipe

Reddish Brown

Mix:

Glossy 80 Email color 80%

Matt 37 Email color 10%

Matt 9 Email color

All by Revell

Germany

90%

Take the pot with the 80 brown, pour in the 37 and 9. The result is quite satisfying, better than using pure 37, which is too reddish. Without the 9 it is not dark enough.

Edited February 4, 2016 by Wardancer

[Henchmen4Hire]

This is a great idea, though I think everyone should keep in mind that applying colors over different colors will make your results vary wildly (at least at the beginning anyway).

For example, applying Testors's "Dark Blue" over white gives you something that looks like Bright Blue, but applying it over black gives you an Earth Blue.

Of course, you can also keep applying coats of Dark Blue over white and eventually end up at Earth Blue once all the white is completely covered up.

[Wardancer]

I use more than one layer of paint and this usuallys works well in covering what's underneath. With other paints it might be an issue.

I am going to post a few more paints once I have the time.

Maybe this doesn't work out but it's worth a shot.

[Cloveapple]

Light Nougat (commonly called Light Flesh)

Santa's flesh

delta creative acrylic paint

almost exact match according to FlamingBrickfilms on https://www.flickr.c...N02/6036256411/

matte

Edited March 15, 2015 by Cloveapple

[Wardancer]

Yellow

32112 yellow (on the lid of the pot it says only 12)

32310 Lufthansa Yellow (on the lid of the pot it says SM 310, SM means semi glossy).

Both by Revell

Available in Germany and many other European countries, Revell makes plastic model airplanes etc.

90% or more similarity can be reached if these steps are followed:

Take the number 12 pot, empty it a bit and pour an increasing amount of 310 in it until it fits lego yellow. Mix and try every few drops until the color matches.

This way you have a whole pot with the same colour and you do not have to mix again for a long time!

I use this to make Elf ears and it works quite well.

http://www.amazon.de/32310-Revell-lufthansa-gelb-seidenmatt-14ml-Dose/dp/B0002HZ344

Edited March 16, 2015 by Wardancer

[nine09nueve]

Can I agree with the Dancer on this one... although I haven't been so brave as to mix the pots (and I tend to paint in acrylics as I'm more used to it and it's water based so easier for me to clean up my messes! And Revel do the same range in acrylic also.. yay!) so I mix the batches every time I want to paint some ears...

none the less - you don't need very much of the Lufthansa yellow... it is quite orangey so just add little bits at a time as he says!

Now you'll DEFFO like this...

Take a rgb/html colour code from here... http://rebrickable.com/colors (or an alternative list)

Stick it in here... http://scalemodeldb.com/paint

hit the "show matching paint" button - and tadaaaa - a whole bunch of ranges and shades - as close to the original as possible...

it doesn't have the Citadel/GW paint range... but I think I've seen comparable charts for this so it shouldn't be too tough to double check.

Hopefully this will help start people off!

Much Love

D

Edited March 16, 2015 by nine09nueve

[Wardancer]

Tan

32314 Beige, on the lid it says SM 314

Revell

Available in Germany and many other European countries, Revell makes plastic model airplanes etc.

95% similarity at least

Satin matte finish

takes longer than a day to dry

I am pretty content with the level of similarity and the finish. Good for a minifig's hair.

Edited March 23, 2015 by Wardancer

[nine09nueve]

Any luck trying out the scalemodeldb website Dancer?

[Wardancer]

I tried. It seems to be a very good invention. For some reason, it did not give me the abovementioned Revell paint as output when I entered the hexcode for Tan. It gave me all the other brands, so I think in general that it works. I will try again with other colors.

[Plokman]

Hope I'm not committing thread Necrosis here but I wanted to ask on a certain color.

Anyone know of a good match to the Dark Turquoise that was used for the Technic Cyber Slam/ Competition series? If at all possible I want to find a Vinal Dye of this color for a minifigure Torso and such.

Short of that does anyone make custom color parts like a Minifigure Torso thats in a color not of the standard bunch? If so I could use that service as a loop hole.

Again sorry if this is a necrosis post. I don't want to break the rules but this is the official topic for colors as far as I'm aware.

[Wardancer]

I think threads like this need to be revived regularly as the collection of data over time is their purpose.

I do not know about the color you look for, but a few posts above nine09nueve describes how to find paint using the rgb color code and a paint database. This might give you an idea. You're looking for a rather specialized color, I am not sure if many others have looked for this.

If you succeed be sure to post the matching paint here to improve the MCW color matching database.

[Plokman]

I think threads like this need to be revived regularly as the collection of data over time is their purpose.

I do not know about the color you look for, but a few posts above nine09nueve describes how to find paint using the rgb color code and a paint database. This might give you an idea. You're looking for a rather specialized color, I am not sure if many others have looked for this.

If you succeed be sure to post the matching paint here to improve the MCW color matching database.

Thanks for the advice there. I will take a look at the index see if it helps and if so post my results.

It is quite a rare color isn't it. Only one I can think of thats rarer is the Dark Purple from the Knight Bus set. Now thats a rare color.

[Wardancer]

Now that is a useful one...

Light blueish gray

36176 hellgrau / light gray (on the lid of the pot it says only "matt 76")

32301 weiß / White (SM 301 on the lid, SM means semi glossy).

Both Enamel / Email by Revell,

Available in Germany and many other European countries, Revell makes plastic model airplanes etc.

90% or more similarity can be reached if these steps are followed:

Take the number 76 pot, empty it a bit and pour an increasing amount of 301 in it until it fits lego light blueish gray. About 20% of the can should be filled with white.

Mix and try every few drops until the color matches.

This way you have a whole pot with the same colour and you do not have to mix again for a long time!

Surface will be rather matte.

An example you can see here:

Edited February 12, 2016 by Wardancer

[Wardancer]

Black

Sounds like a no-brainer, but there are indeed many different blacks, so it might be worth mentioning that this one works particularly well:

32302, on the lid it says SM 203

Enamel / Email by Revell,

Available in Germany and many other European countries, Revell makes plastic model airplanes etc.

100%

The seidenmatt/semiglossy finish looks very much like original Lego. I don't say this often, but this Revell one is nice to work with.

I used a lot of this black here:

Dark Elf Lady Desdemona on Demimonde the Pegasus (top) by MWardancer, auf Flickr

[Pemil_99]

Does anyone know a good colour for Dark tan? I've used Revell matt 80 which is 90% similarity. I've heard Model master armour sand should work good, is that so?

Also do you have any good for sand blue? I've heard that model master azure blue should work fine.

I live in southern sweden and it doesn't seem there is any resellers of Model master here so I haven't been able to test any of them yet.

[Wardancer]

Sorry, I use revell 89 matt for dark tan, which is probably the one you mean. Sand blue I have not tried yet.

[Pemil_99]

Oh, yeah I did. Sorry. Ok but thanks for your answer!

[Wardancer]

Dark Tan

It has been mentioned, but I improved the recipe.

MATT 89 by Revell

Because this is too light pour in a little MATT 82 until it matches. 

I would say it gets 95% similarity.

An example, here you can see real Dark Tan and my mix next to each other:

Dryad Fiérce by MWardancer, auf Flickr

 

 

[Wardancer]

Dark Green 

62 Email Farbe, Enamel paint (glossy)

by Revell

This is one of the few paints which matches an original LEGO color straight out of the can.

I would say 98% similarity. It is a bit glossier than LEGO, so semi-gloss it if you like.

 

 

[Borex]

Anyone already figured out Olive Green? I want to give my Bossk in the upcoming battlepack a paint treatment i think. (his legs especially)

[Wardancer]

Semi-Glossy 

mix 50% Revell 1 transparent and 50% Revell 2 transparent.

To me it seemed unnecessary to think about the coating for a long time, but now I have realized that this actually makes a big difference. If you use a matte or very glossy paint, the painted area loos unnatural and unlegoish. LEGO has a somewhat semi-glossy finish. Not all parts, but most. Hands for example are often more matte. If you use a semi-glossy. the result will not only look more realistic, it will also be al little protected against damaging the paint. Also a less glossy surface is better for avoiding unwanted reflections when taking photos. 

[nine09nueve]

Medium Azure

Citadel Baharroth Blue is very VERY similar to it.

Could it be closer with some mixing... probably - but I painted a couple of coats onto a lego base of dark azure without white undercoat and it was really good without having to do much else.

Much love

D

p.s: What technique™?

Edited October 22, 2017 by nine09nueve
(because of butt fire)

[Wardancer]

Uhm, thanks for mentioning my semi-glossy mix. But be careful: Revell paints are of a different chemistry than Citatel. The Revell might dissolve the Citadel paint. You have to try that on an extra brick before you ruin something nice!

[deadRahi]

Has anyone figured out Dark Red? I am planning on using it on a RT Helmet from Brickwarriors since they don’t have Dark Red versions of it in stock (limited edition).

Edited June 23, 2018 by deadRahi