How our paint matches work.
Find colors to try from the paints you already know. Our scores compare digital swatches; a test on your own model is the final check.
Basecoat Lab is a free tool for miniature and scale-model painters. Pick a paint and it shows the closest colors in every other brand, drawn from a catalog of 2,552 paints across 12 brands. The color values are approximate digital references from community catalogs and product images. We have not measured this catalog from physical paint samples.
01 · Color
How a match is computed
Each swatch starts with a stored RGB hex value. We convert those values from sRGB to CIE Lab using a D65 white point, then calculate their CIEDE2000 color distance (ΔE00). A smaller distance gives a higher score. This compares the stored colors, not the pigments or dried paint.
The score is 100 − (5 × ΔE00), rounded to the nearest whole number and limited to 0–100. For example, a distance of 2 gives 90%. The percentage is our display scale, not a measured accuracy rate or the probability that two paints will look identical.
96–100Very close color
88–95Close color
78–87Similar color
0–77Loose color match
Scores compare approximate digital swatches. Test the paint before substituting.
02 · Source
Where the colors come from
These are the sources behind the catalog. A source that links to a manufacturer still does not establish a measured paint color. The swatches you see are rendered from stored values, so source errors and differences between screens can affect the result.
- Hobby Desk Data catalog
Catalog records compiled from manufacturer pages by a community project. Digital swatches are approximate; manufacturer links do not establish physical color measurement.
- PATINA Tamiya catalog
Community-supplied X and XF paint codes, names and approximate digital swatches. These are not manufacturer color measurements.
- PATINA Humbrol catalog
Community-supplied enamel paint numbers, names and approximate digital swatches. Current availability and unverified finishes need checking against the manufacturer.
- Scalemates Revell color records
Revell Email and Aqua catalogs compiled from community color records and their RGB swatches. RAL references identify a named standard; they do not make the displayed RGB a measured paint color.
- Manufacturer product-image swatches
Corrections for 15 failed catalog swatches, sampled from color rectangles in official Green Stuff World product images. These are image pixels, not measurements of physical paint.
Our cross-brand pairs are computed from those values. The PaintRangeCompatibility community chart corroborates some pairs and can break a close numerical tie. A community tag does not mean we physically tested the match.
03 · Paint type
Why paint type matters
A metallic silver and a flat grey can have similar digital swatches while behaving very differently on a model. We group paints as standard paint, wash/transparent (including inks and one-coat paints), metallic, or technical/primer. The paint converter prioritizes matches within the same broad group and identifies matches from a different group.
These groups do not establish the same sheen, opacity, medium, or thinner compatibility. For example, standard acrylics and enamels can share a group, and washes, clear colors and Contrast paints can share a group. Check the actual range, paint type and available finish information before substituting one.
04 · Limits
What the percentage does not promise
A high score gives you a shortlist to test. Undercoat, thinning, coat count, lighting and varnish all change the appearance of real paint. One flat digital color cannot represent a metallic's reflections or how a transparent paint pools in recesses. Test candidates over the same undercoat you will use on the model and let them dry before comparing.
The catalog covers selected ranges, not every paint a manufacturer sells. Names, codes and availability can change; a source's current/discontinued flag is not a live stock check. A missing match means the tool has no suitable stored result, not that no equivalent exists anywhere.
05 · Corrections
Help improve the reference
Found a wrong number, finish, name or swatch? Send a correction with the brand, range, paint code and a manufacturer reference if you have one. A photo can help identify a problem, but lighting and camera settings prevent it from certifying an exact color.
Documented corrections
- September 5, 2026: clarified digital-swatch sources and score labels; restored scale-model paint numbers and distinguished paint type, sheen and medium. Revell Email 302 satin black is a separate entry from 07 gloss black. Corrected 13 paint-category errors after checking manufacturer references. Removed 34 unsupported or incorrectly identified Tamiya entries from the public catalog and added manufacturer identity checks before importing that range.
- July 2026: replaced failed grey placeholders for 15 Green Stuff World colors with digital samples from their product-image swatches.
- Catalog corrections: Citadel White Scar and Corax White use approximate near-white values in place of failed grey placeholders. These corrections are not physical measurements.