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Hi everyone,

I'm sure you're aware of this project by now, but if you're not, here at INSTAR we felt that a large number of the community wanted some of the old colours from the Citadel range available again, including those that are extremely rare nowadays.

I'm fairly certain there are members out there who could help with this project as while some colours might be available on eBay or foreign sites, there are some colours that are not available and only exist in peoples collections. which, once used, will never be available again.

Below is a list of the colours we are looking for, some we have already been sent so they are crossed off the list. If you have any of these colours available we would really love you to send them to us, either the paint pot (Dried or wet, we're not fussed though dried is better) or a painted swatch. If you wish to send us a painted swatch, we find that when we use our software to replicate or create colours, it works best if the paint is on card or plasticard with a thick enough layer that a led light cannot be seen through the paint layer (normally 2-4 coats depending on the paint), usually the torch on a smartphone suffices.

The reason there are some repeated colours in the different eras is due to the fact that they were made by different manufacturers, so the shades, even though the colour name was the same, actually changed completely.

If you are able to supply a colour to us, just send me a PM and I can send you the address where they need to be sent to. If a swatch is sent, could it be labelled with which list it comes from i.e Crystal Jar Range etc

Thanks for reading and I look forward to seeing people help with the project!

The INSTAR Team

THE LIST

Previous Citadel Range - Same pot style as current Citadel Range but with the old colours - 6th/7th Edition

Sunburst Yellow
Golden Yellow
Blazing Orange
Blood Red
Red Gore
Dark Flesh
Dwarf Flesh
Elf Flesh
Warlock Purple
Liche Purple
Ultramarines Blue
Enchanted Blue
Space Wolves Grey
Hawk Turquoise
Dark Angels Green
Snot Green
Goblin Green
Scorpion Green
Rotting Flesh
Camo Green
Catachan Green
Graveyard Earth
Scorched Brown
Bestial Brown
Vermin Brown
Snakebite Leather
Bubonic Brown
Desert Yellow
Kommando Khaki
Bleached Bone
Fortress Grey
Codex Grey
Chaos Black
Skull White
Smelly Primer
Shining Gold
Tin Bitz
Boltgun Metal
Chainmail
Mithril Silver
Leviathan Purple

Crystal Jar Era, 3rd/4th/5th Edition

Kommando Khaki (Camo Green?)
Smelly Primer
Baal Red
Asurman Blue
Leviathan Purple
Terracotta
Jade Green

First Hex Pots, Completely Opaque Pots 2nd Edition

Red Gore
Scab Red
Dark Flesh
Dwarf Flesh
Ultramarines Blue
Shadow Grey
Ice Blue
Rotting Flesh
Camo Green
Catachan Green
Graveyard Earth
Scorched Brown
Bestial Brown
Vermin Brown
Vomit Brown
Desert Yellow
Kommando Khaki
Fortress Grey
Codex Grey
Shining Gold
Baal Red
Asurman Blue
Leviathan Purple
Pallid Flesh
Terracotta
Scaly Green
Leprous Brown
Lightning Blue
Blood Angel Red
Polished Blue
Brazen Brass
Festering Blue

Classic Citadel Range Era/Rogue Trader, 1st Edition

Ash Waste Grey
Battle Green
Codex Grey
Fire Orange
Horizon Blue
Imperial Strike Green
Jungle Green
Nightworld Blue
Ork Flesh
Salamander Black
Salamander Green
Snakebite Leather
Space Wolves Grey
Striking Scorpian
Sulphur Desert Yellow
Turquoise Hawk
Amethyst
Burnished Gold
Glistening Green
Tin Bitz
Chaos Black
Woodland Green
Blood Red
Skull White
Shining Gold
Sunburst Yellow
Enchanted Blue
Mithril Silver
Swamp Brown
Orc Brown
Hobgoblin Orange
Elf Grey
Spearstaff Brown
Worm Purple
Goblin Green
Chainmail
Brazen Bronze
Bilious Green
Ghoul Grey
Electric Blue
Red Gore
Imperial Purple
Moody Blue
Titillating Pink
Smelly Primer

CURRENTLY CONVERTED

Previous Citadel Range - Same pot style as current Citadel Range but with the old colours - 6th/7th Edition

Scab Red
Charadon granite
Calthan Brown
Shadow Grey
Dheneb Stone
Mechrite Red
Fenris Grey
Necron Abyss
Orkhide Shade
Vomit Brown
Iyanden Darksun
Macharius Solar Orange
Adeptus Battlegrey
Tau Sept Ochre
Tallern Flesh
Khemri Brown
Knarloc Green
Mordian Blue
Astronomican Grey
Gretchin Green
Hormaguant Purple

Crystal Jar Era, 3rd/4th/5th Edition

Space Wolves Grey
Vomit Brown
Goblin Green
Vermin Brown
Dark Angels Green
Blood Red
Ultramarines Blue
Sunburst Yellow
Snakebite Leather

First Hex Pots, Completely Opaque 2nd Edition

None yet but we're working on it!

Classic Citadel Range Era/Rogue Trader, 1st Edition

None yet but we're working on it!

We're still getting help from the community on this and it's proving to be a big hit

If you still wish to help out, check through the list of colours and see if you have anything you can send us and we'll get it recreated.

PM me for our address!

I'm a member of a few miniature buy and sell groups on FB, and from time to time people sell their paints there. Maybe that would be a good way for you to get some old pots?

We've updated the list and removed more colours that we have received, we've also updated the list to go by editions and not just by years to make it easier to see what kind of things we are looking for!

We already have 17 colours made up already and selling fast!

Just head over the the Vintage section at INSTAR Paint Webstore

I just came across this page. Very interesting project! I'm hoping to find a match for the pre-2012 Ultramarines blue at some point.

I have a few comments though, in case they are helpful, as I looked into this before to help me find some old paints:

- The new paint names and colours were actually launched in April 2012 (it was in White Dwarf from that date), so they applied from 6th Edition onwards, as that was launched just a couple of months later.

- The use of the new pot style with old colours actually started in November 2010, according to White Dwarf. That was in the middle of 5th edition. They describe the new pots in the context of the release of a new Mega Paint Set. I'm not sure if the new pots were individually available then too or if it took a few more months for that. There was nothing in White Dwarf to suggest that the paint supplier or colours had changed (in fact it was only a very brief mention of the new pot design at all), but it's interesting that you've found the paints did change when the pots changed.

In conclusion then:
- the previous paint colours and names were valid only up to 5th edition.
- old paints with new pots was only for a short period in the last 1.5 years of 5th edition.
- new paints were for 6th, 7th, and 8th editions.

Most of the old paint range (I think pre-1998, but possibly the range before that) is still available from the original manufacturer under different names - it is now known as Coat d'Arms - so you could easily buy any from them if you want to see if your shades match.

I'm not sure if you still check this thread, so I'll send you a message on Facebook if I don't hear back from you here.

Hi OrkPlayer137

We are still active around here, just not as much as we would like to be, currently the project is on hold while we work through all the donations we were sent in

Thanks for the updated information though, I tried to get as much as I could off the internet and I did have a feeling not all of it was accurate, but it wasn't too far out.

In regards to the paint change on the hex pots, They certainly did change from a French Manufacturer to a U.S one, or was it the other way around?

We are aware of the Coat d'Arms range, but they only offer in one size like everyone else unlike what we plan to do

Thanks for the reply.

Interesting that there was a US supplier - I had only read about the French one.

Another confusing thing was the introduction of Foundation Paints towards the end of the old paint range - I think they were made by a different supplier in pots similar to the new ones, but co-existed with the old hex-style pots with the old supplier for a while, so maybe they were from the US while the existing paints continued with the French supplier?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
A further update - after looking into it a bit more, the old paints still said "Made in France" even after the change from the hex pot to the new-style pot (in use from late 2011 - April 2012), so I think the supplier did not change with that pot change.

It was probably just the supplier for the Foundation Paint that changed.

I was just about to toss some old pots of dried up paint, but I might hold onto them a bit longer.
Oddly enough, I had spent several hours about a week ago researching the classic Citadel paint lines myself. Most of the information came from some site called "Collector-info" , though I did find a few other bits and pieces scattered around the place..

I also happen to own at least 1 Citadel paint pot from every series except the original, and NONE of mine were made in the U.S., so unless there was some kind of regional market variation, I don't know where that information would have come from.

Here is what I do know:

"Classic 80s" - Produced in the UK by HMG Paints Ltd., using the same pots used by HMB made paints today (Coat D'Arms and Formula P3).
The Warcolours range (not to be confused with Army Painter Warpaints), based in the small island nation of Cyprus, have produced their own 99% colour matched "Nostalgia '88" range, currently limited to the 9 colours found in the original Creature Paint Set (Swamp Brown, Rotting Flesh, Orc Brown, Hobgoblin Orange, Elf Grey, Spearstaff Brown, Worm Purple, Goblin Green, Chainmail)

"2nd Edition" - HMG kept their contract, but made a significant revisions to the range, with several older colours discontinued, and a number of new colours introduced. Meanwhile, the paints were now sold in hexagonal pots with the same HMG style lids as the previous (side note: standard colours = white lids, metallics = black lids, washes = blue lids, glazes = red lids), with consistent product codes of the format "83xxx." This is the same range that continues under the "Coat d'arms" label today.

"3rd Edition aka Crystal Jar" - HMG lost their contract to a French company, some time prior to the release of the 3rd edition of Warhammer 40,000 (1998). Although many of the same names were used, the change in formulations resulted in noticeable changes to the colours. This coincided with the introduction of the "Crystal Jars" and the notorious screw cap lids (product codes "47xxx")

Revised 3rd Edition - Around 2003, there were some relatively small changes made to the Citadel Colour range. The most signficant being the "improved" flip top lids which were used with the existing crystal jars. Additionally, 15 of the previously available colours were discontinued, and 6 new colours were introduced (Tanned Flesh, Terracotta, Graveyard Earth, Kommando Khaki, Desert Yellow, Catachan Green). Product codes were also changed to a "61-xx" format

Bolter Shells - The 1st generation "Bolter Shell" paint pots originally appeared sometime around 2007/2008 with the introduction of 26 new Washes (black lids) and Foundations(white lid), with a "68-xx" product code format. While the Washes were still made in France, the Foundation paint labels identify them being made in China. There were a few paint set exclusive paints that were also made in China.
Roughly 2 years later, the rest of the existing range moved to Bolter Shell paint pots, with clear plastic lids, and even kept the same product codes as before, though a further 19 paints were discontinued, including all of the old inks and washes, bringing the entire range down to 101 total colours (47 standard colours, 18 Foundation colours, and 8 Washes).

Current - In 2012, Citadel paint production returned home to the UK, and the range was redesigned from scratch. It also brought an improved version of the "Bolter Shell" pot, which has been gradually phased in as stock of the original versions seen previously were depleted.

ArynCrinn

Hi there, I can't quite remember where we got the US information from unless it was a flawed source (Possibly the case given the age and changes), however thank you for the updated information. We'll make sure, when we get the opportunity, to update the info!

Just to provide some visuals on paint pots, here’s a reference picture I shot a while ago:

 Nevelon wrote:
Just to provide some visuals on paint pots, here’s a reference picture I shot a while ago:

Looks like that Macragge Blue may be in one of the 1st gen bolter shell pots.

ArynCrinn

Currently our backlog has something from all those periods bar the first pot, some of those are proving really hard to find , but then since Coat d'arms make them I guess we can look at that when the time comes

Although Coat d'arms uses the round paint pots, the paint is more a continuation of the 2nd edition paint range... even the names are more closely matched.

The classic range probably would be the hardest to find, given that it's been out of production for nearly 25 years. They also seem to have a general lack of labeling, which would even make identifying them a challenge.
... but the fact they've been gone so long, and largely before most people even got into the hobby, demand isn't going to be so high.



I would probably make the 1998-2012 colours a priority. Vallejo Game Color is supposed to match them, but in my own experience, many of the colours don't even come close.

ArynCrinn

You are correct about the original colours, I know some exist and it'd be great to find some especially the more neon based colours, even if they are dried out it'd be more than enough for us to work with as we can tweak it to get almost exactly the same colour.

Fortunately though because there weren't that many colours it shouldn't be too hard to figure out what colour is what.

The 1998-2012 era is where the most focus is going at the moment, however with so many projects it is slow progress, but we are getting there

The lists in the first post, are they the ones you need or are they what you have already?

I have a ton of old paints in my reserve paint box, including quite a few of the HMG round and hex pots and inks - started in the late 80s and pretty much kept them all.

The screw top ones are all dried but I haven't binned them, they ended up as painting handles!

Happy to send you the dead ones and swatches of the rest, but it'd be useful to know if that list up top is still what you need.

Hi Guys!

The list isn’t updated at the moment but give me a little bit to grab the laptop and i’ll start deleting off what we have

Dried or fresh, we’re happy to accept any donation!

For swatches, we recommend a thick layer, thick enough so that no light can pass through it, this will allow our equipment to get the best reading possible and not pick up the material underneath

We've updated the list!

We're so close with getting all the colours from the 3rd-5th Edition era paints. If anyone has them dried or wet we'd love to hear from you!

We've also added a list of what we have currently converted as well so it's easier to see, for the corresponding paint just head to our conversion page under the vintage section and you'll see the list there

Also, share the news about what we're doing, we know there is a large community out there who still have old models that they might want to expand with some newer models but want to keep the same colour scheme using the original colours that may not be available anymore.

Or as we've heard from a number of customers, they've been able to touch up chipped or damaged models with the matches we have made with no discernible difference in colour!

Or maybe some of you just want to do some retro colour schemes

We love to see and hear what people have done with these colour matched paints and peoples thoughts on the range in general!

Have you actually noticed any significant difference between the 1998-2010 paints and the 2010-2012 ones, that isn't more than just marginal differences between batches?

As far as I can, with the obvious exceptions of the washes foundations, they should be the exact same stuff, given that they have the exact same product codes, and are still made in France.

The two different Vomit brown conversions you have your store (IV-11 and IV-12), for example, look largely indistinguishable.

ArynCrinn wrote:
Have you actually noticed any significant difference between the 1998-2010 paints and the 2010-2012 ones, that isn't more than just marginal differences between batches?

As far as I can, with the obvious exceptions of the washes foundations, they should be the exact same stuff, given that they have the exact same product codes, and are still made in France.

The two different Vomit brown conversions you have your store (IV-11 and IV-12), for example, look largely indistinguishable.

There is a marginal difference, it's not much but it's definitely there because when we ran it through our equipment it came out with two different sets of figures.

Even when we did the swatches for testing there was a marginal difference between the two.

How would I get an adequate swatch for Washes, etc,?
Are you not worried about them quite yet?

And speaking of Washes, why are Baal Red, Leviathan Purple, and Asurmen Blue listed under the earlier ranges? They never came in Crystal Jars or Hex pots

Additionally, I don't think you'll find a Smelly Primer in the current style pots anywhere. Everything I have seen indicates it was discontinued around 2003 when they moved to the flip top lids.

Hi Aryncrinn

We were going by information that we could find on the internet, considering there wasn’t a full complete list anywhere of the paints in each range we had to put the bits together so it’s not as accurate as we’d like it to be.

Though oh are correct, we do need to remove those names from the earlier ranges as well as smelly primer from the later range.

As for the washes we recently got sent in a large amount of them so I think we’re good on them for now