In the pot, Martian Ironcrust reads as a warm metallic silver, mid-tone and moderate. It builds a smooth gradient with Gehenna's Gold underneath and Auric Armour Gold on the highlights, all in the Citadel line. This color is somewhat distinctive: 1 brand offers a strong same-finish match, The Army Painter Red Copper closest at 87 percent. Any substitute is a mixing base rather than a drop-in, so tune it on the model.
Martian Ironcrust equivalents and near misses
Fair warning: nothing matches Citadel Martian Ironcrust cleanly. The options below are the least bad, and every one of them drifts.
Closest The Army Painter equivalent: The Army Painter Red Copper, close, with a hint of drift side by side (delta E 2.6).
Tamiya's closest color: Tamiya Dark Copper, workable at tabletop distance, not up close (delta E 7.6).
Nearest in the Two Thin Coats catalog: Two Thin Coats Fire Opal, only a loose relative (delta E 8.1).
Best Humbrol option: Humbrol Red Leather, a near match with visible drift up close (delta E 3.4), but it is an opaque acrylic so treat it as a color reference, not a swap.
Check it on a spare model first, because The Army Painter Red Copper sits slightly lighter than the original and the difference grows over large flat panels.
How to read the score
90+Close
80sUsable
<70Mix
The Army Painter
Tamiya
Two Thin Coats
Humbrol
Vallejo
AK Interactive
Scale75
Revell
P3 Paints
Monument Pro Acryl
About this color
Color profile
Highlight and shade ladder
Pairs well with
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Where painters use it
Frequently asked
What is the closest equivalent to Citadel Martian Ironcrust?
The closest same-finish match is The Army Painter Red Copper at 87% color similarity.
What finish is Martian Ironcrust?
Martian Ironcrust is a metallic paint with a silver tone and a reflective finish. Because the shine comes from metal flake, a flat paint can match the color and still be wrong for the job, which is why cross-finish matches here are references rather than swaps.
What do I highlight and shade Martian Ironcrust with?
Highlight Martian Ironcrust toward Auric Armour Gold and shade it down into Gehenna's Gold, both Citadel paints in the same finish family.