Citadel to Vallejo & Army Painter Conversion Guide (2026)

Published on August 30, 2026 · By MiniPaint AI Color Lab · 5 min read

Every miniature painter encounters this problem: a painting tutorial specifies a Citadel paint like Mephiston Red or Abaddon Black, but your shelf is stocked with Vallejo Model Color dropper bottles or Army Painter Fanatic paints.

While legacy PDF charts rely on subjective human eyes, MiniPaint AI computes true color distance using the CIE $L^*a^*b^*$ Delta-E (1976) color space formula.

Top 10 Essential Equivalents (CIELAB Verified)

Citadel Colour	Vallejo Equivalent	The Army Painter	Match Quality
Abaddon Black	Matt Black (70.950)	Matt Black	ΔE < 0.5 (Exact)
Corax White	Cold White (72.001)	Matt White	ΔE < 0.9 (Exact)
Macragge Blue	Ultramarine Blue (72.022)	Ultramarine Blue	ΔE < 1.2 (Direct)
Mephiston Red	Heavy Red (72.141)	Dragon Red	ΔE < 1.4 (Direct)
Retributor Armour	Glorious Gold (72.056)	Greedy Gold	ΔE < 1.8 (Close)

How CIELAB Delta-E Works in MiniPaint AI

Human eyes perceive color non-linearly. In the standard RGB color model, two blues might look identical numerically but appear drastically different under warm miniature desk lamps.

MiniPaint AI converts every bottle into CIELAB coordinates $(L^*, a^*, b^*)$, measuring Lightness ($L^*$), Green-Red axis ($a^*$), and Blue-Yellow axis ($b^*$). When you analyze a recipe, MiniPaint compares every bottle in its catalog to find matches with a $\Delta E \le 2.0$, ensuring seamless shelf substitution.

Scan Your Shelf with MiniPaint AI

Smart Shelf Assistant cross-references recipe bottles to your inventory automatically.

Get MiniPaint AI on App Store