ToP Tip: The best cold & warm silver paints

Today we’re dusting off the silverware: I’ve brought you two colour quartets featuring my favourite silver paints. One with a neutral-cold undertone, and one with a warmer, more oily steel finish. All share perfect flow and high coverage, making them absolutely essential for any paint collection.

Here on Tale of Painters and on my YouTube channel, I’m constantly testing out the latest paint ranges. However, only the finest colours from each range earn a spot in my rotation. I like to keep my options open and explore a variety of brands, cherry-picking the best paints and colours from each range.

My best paint picks for cold steel

Recently I tested the new Vallejo True Metallic Metal paints and was immediately hooked (read my review here). The range has two silver colour families that complement each other perfectly (one light, one dark). Unlike Citadel’s silver paints, the TMM paints have a neutral to cold undertone. Vallejo Model Air Steel works brilliantly with these as a final accent. The formula of the paint was slightly changed with the new label design. The particles aren’t quite as fine anymore, but the paint reflects more strongly. I think it’s still currently the best bright silver available.

The new True Metallic Metal paints from Vallejo are so good that they quickly replaced a lot of metallic paints in my daily rotation! Here are my favourites for a cold steel silver, what are yours? PS.: If you like these colour swatches, I have plenty more on my Patreon: buff.ly/3wU9fUb

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— Stahly (Tale of Painters) (@stahly.bsky.social) 10. Dezember 2025 um 19:30

The cold silver palette:

• Vallejo Model Air Steel
• Vallejo True Metallic Metal Sterling Silver Base
• Vallejo True Metallic Metal Obsidian Black Light
• Vallejo True Metallic Metal Obsidian Black Base

If you want to add these colours to your collection, a click on the links will take you to one of our partner shops.

My best paint picks for warm steel

If you prefer warmer silver paints like those in the Citadel Colour range, I recommend the Vallejo Mecha Color range. VMeC Light Steel, VMeC Steel and VMeC Dark Steel correspond almost perfectly to Stormhost Silver, Iron Hands Steel, and Leadbelcher, with finer particles and smoother consistency. The Mecha Color range is actually airbrush paints, but the silver metallics also work well with a brush. The palette is rounded off by TTC XXX, which is very similar to Citadel Iron Warriors.

The warm steel selection:

• Vallejo Mecha Color Light Steel
• Vallejo Mecha Color Steel
• Vallejo Mecha Color Dark Steel
• Two Thin Coats Dwarven Iron

Here too, I’ve linked the colours, feel free to use the links for your next hobby purchase to support our work.

And for painting gold and copper, I also have some recommendations:

Comparing colours with my digital swatches

The colour squares shown above are taken from my hand-painted colour swatches, which I have created for many paint ranges such as Citadel, Vallejo Game Color, Warpaints Fanatic, and Two Thin Coats. All of them are professional reproductions, hand-painted on plasticard and photographed under consistent, neutral lighting conditions, making them much more accurate and true to life than the manufacturers’ colour charts.

Additionally, my swatches are compatible with each other, allowing you to compare different paint ranges to find the best matches for tutorials from sources like White Dwarf or the Warhammer YouTube channel, or to convert your old colour schemes to paints from other manufacturers. You can find my swatches on my Patreon, either for a small donation in my shop or by becoming an Autarch tier member.

My paint range top list

And if you want to know what my current favourite paint ranges are, I’ve summarized my current recommendations for you in this post:

I hope my paint picks might be an inspiration for your next Warhammer or scale modelling project. Feel free to react and let me know in the comments about your staples for painting blue, or which colour groups you’d like me to put together next. Until next time, and happy hobbying!