iModelKit Light vs Model Colors
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
iModelKit Light
This app simplifies scale model building with tools for browsing paint charts, mixing paints, and managing projects. It offers extensive catalogs of paints and materials, with optional in-app purchases for advanced features and inventory management.
- Browse paint charts and material catalogs
- Mix paints and compute color mixes
- Create and share custom charts/catalogs
- Compute scale results and find references
- Manage model kit projects
- Optional inventory management and barcode scanning
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The light release has some limitations and ad banners and intersticials. This release can be changed to Pay release with Inventory module using In-App purchase. iModelkit simplifies scale model builder work by providing a set of easy to use and comprehensive tools. With iModelKit you can : • Browse paint charts from colour standards and model kit paint manufacturers • Browse scratch material catalogs • Create your own charts and catalogs, and share these • Mix your paints • Compute your mix from a base colour • Compute to scale and display on screen real size or 3D results • Find references in catalogs from your scale computations • Create your own model kit projects from your computations and references • Manage your inventory (using the optional inventory module) • Scan your paint jars and barcodes (using the optional inventory module) iModelKit provides paint charts and scratch material catalogs samples for most manufacturers : • Paint charts : 104 (including 6 colour standard), 53 manufacturers • Paints : 13852 • Colours : 21272 • Official equivalences : 10457 • References : 26449 (including 15819 with barcodes) • Material catalogs : 5 • Managed shapes : 31 • Items : 2562 • References : 3553 (including 2377 with barcodes) Available In-App purchase : • Pay release + Inventory Module For information, here are the features added by the Pay release : • No more ad banners and interstitials • The full set of paint equivalence for equivalences not given by manufacturers (2 & 3 levels and closest paint computations) • The paint mixer mix of up to 6 paints (3 in the free release) • The paint mixer mix computation from another mix as a reference • Paint chart and catalogs update automatic detection • Cie Lab, Cie XYZ and Munsell colours management • Project importation • Advanced language management • Inventory module In-app purchase availability For information, here are the features added by the Inventory Module : • Inventory management • Barcode scanner • Paint cap colour scanner • Mix from inventoried items • Transfer of buy list items to inventory More information at http://www.id6.ch
Model Colors
This app helps hobbyists manage their paint collections for models. Track colors you own, colors you need, and easily share lists. Find similar colors and organize them into custom lists for different projects.
- Track owned and needed paint colors
- Browse over 40,000 colors from various brands
- Share color lists via email and messaging
- Set favorite colors for quick access
- Find similar colors using standards or calculations
- Create custom color lists for projects
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Model Colors is an application for helping you keep track of your hobby model colors and projects. Have you ever ended up buying the wrong colors because you didn’t remember the exact code of the color you needed or forgot to get that pesky Dunkelgelb that you needed to finish that glorious tank you’re working on? If so, then Model Colors helps you keep track of the colors that you own and the colors that you need to buy. The application contains lists of all colors from a set of brands and you can browse these lists and mark the ones you already own and the ones you need to buy. Currently the app has over 50000 colors included from most big and many small manufacturers. The lists of your own colors and colors that you need to buy can be easily shared via mail, iMessage etc. If you mainly use some particular color types or individual colors you can set them as favorites and easily access them from the main menu. You can check for colors that are similar to a certain color either via color standards like FS, RAL, RLM etc, or via industry standard CIE deltaE 2000 calculations. Various colors can also be grouped together for quick access into custom color lists. You can keep the colors you normally use for US airplanes in one list and colors you use for fantasy miniatures in another, making them easy to find. Some of the included brands: Abteilung 502, Agama, AKAN, AK Interactive, Alclad II, Ammo, Andrea, AOK Silveroaks, Apple Barrell, Arcus Hobby Colors, Army Painter, Badger, Bits of War, Coat D'Arms, Colour Forge, Craft Smart, Createx, Creature Caster, Daler-Rowney, Darkstar Miniatures, Duncan Rhodes Painting Academy, Dwarven Forge, E7, Fantasy Flight Games, Faskolor, Fire Scale Modeler, Flames of War, Flory Models, ForgeWorld, Gaia, Gamescraft, Games Workshop, Golden, Gravity Colors, Green Stuff World, Hannants, Hataka, Heller, Hobby Mio, Huge Miniatures, Humbrol, ICM, Instar, Italeri, Jo Sonja's, Jumpwind, Kimera Models, Lefranc Bourgeois, LifeColor, Liquitex, Meng, Microscale, MIG Productions, Minuteman Scale Models, Mission Models, Modellers World, Modo, Monkey Modelling Paints, Monument Hobbies, Mr. Hobby, MR Paint, Nocturna Models, Paasche, Pacific88, Pactra, Pledge, Prince August, Privateer Press, ProScale Paints, Rackham, Reaper, Rembrandt, Revell, Rust-Oleum, Scale75, Scale Colors, Scale Modellers Supply, Sovereign Hobbies, Splash Paints, Tamiya, Testors, Titans Hobby, Tru-Color, True Earth, TT Combat, Turbo Dork, Ultimate Modelling Products, Vallejo, Vantage Modelling Solutions, Warcolours, Wargames Foundry, Warlord Games, Wilder, Winsor & Newton. You can also add the models that you are working on or plan to build in the future. For each model you can register the colors that are required and make sure that you don't forget to buy any essential colors. Each model can have a photos associated with it as well as notes. Using the notes and photos it is easy to keep a build diary or just keep track of things that you need to do at some point. Model Colors requires iCloud and iCloud Drive to be enabled for the app to work. iCloud Drive is used to save photos and documents for our models. Model Colors uses a subscription in order to support the application development and there's a trial period that lets you evaluate the app. Please see the link https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ for the End User License Agreement.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Model Colors at 4.6 against iModelKit Light's 4.2. Model Colors also leads on update cadence (monthly vs every 3 months) and ratings volume (447 vs 34). iModelKit Light's advantage is review sentiment (79% vs 61%) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. iModelKit Light sells 3 one-off in-app purchases and Model Colors sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Model Colors holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Model Colors has 447 ratings behind it against 34, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 79% of iModelKit Light's written reviews are positive against 61% of Model Colors's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
iModelKit Light ships an update every 3 months, Model Colors monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | iModelKit Light | Model Colors |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (34 ratings) | 4.6 (447 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 78.8% of reviews — better | 60.6% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 34 | 447 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Monthly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 9.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 158 MB | 84 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | id6 Sarl | D-Pointer Oy |
Customer experience
iModelKit Light
Model Colors
In-app purchases
iModelKit Light
- Inventory$4.99
- Premium Release$9.99
- Premium Release+Inventory$14.99
Model Colors
- 1 month subscription7 Days trial$0.991 Month
- 3 month subscription14 Days trial$1.993 Months
- 6 month subscription1 Month trial$3.496 Months
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- 1 year subscription1 Month trial$5.991 Year
Questions
Is iModelKit Light free?
Is Model Colors free?
Which has better reviews, iModelKit Light or Model Colors?
Do iModelKit Light or Model Colors have ads?
Which is updated more often, iModelKit Light or Model Colors?
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