Which red paint to use?

[Kentucky_Colonel]

I have the German Battleship Bishmarck. To make it like it was in history I ordered the decals with the large swastika for the deck. It is just a white circle with the sastika inside it. I need to paint the red part of the flag before putting it on and I have no idea which red needs to be used since I’ve never painted one of those “flags” before.

Anybody have any ideas?

[stikpusher]

Just as the Luftwaffe used RLM standard paints, the German navy used paints matched to the RAL standard. See if you can find out which particular RAL shade that they used. If no luck with that, then I suppose that the Luftwaffe RLM shade, the number escapes my foggy brain at this hour, would be a best guess substitute.

[EdGrune]

RLM 23 is Rot (red). IMO it is just a bit oranger than Insignia Red

Hint: many white decals are translucent when applied resulting,in your case, with a pink disc. Apply a similarly sized circle of white trim decal to the red area before applying the white & swaztika Decal.

[Kentucky_Colonel]

RLM 23 is Rot (red). IMO it is just a bit oranger than Insignia Red

Hint: many white decals are translucent when applied resulting,in your case, with a pink disc. Apply a similarly sized circle of white trim decal to the red area before applying the white & swaztika Decal.

Thanks. I never thought of that but your right, the red will come though the white decal.

The thing is in every picture I have seen the red matches the red on the flag.

[GMorrison]

Or, paint the circle white ever so slightly smaller than the decals.

[gregbale]

EdGrune

RLM 23 is Rot (red). IMO it is just a bit oranger than Insignia Red

Hint: many white decals are translucent when applied resulting,in your case, with a pink disc. Apply a similarly sized circle of white trim decal to the red area before applying the white & swaztika Decal.

Thanks. I never thought of that but your right, the red will come though the white decal.

The thing is in every picture I have seen the red matches the red on the flag.

I’d de-intensify [is that a word???] your color with a drop or two of grey or tan, for scale effect; even real fire engines don’t look that intense ‘fire engine red’ from any more than a chassis-length away.

Cheers

[BlackSheepTwoOneFour]

Except when it’s given a nice wax job. LOL!!

[stikpusher]

I came across this color chip sample of German colors. I would think that number 6 would be a good bet… RAL 3010

[GMorrison]

Here’s how I do white decals over darker colors or patterns.

[Kentucky_Colonel]

RLM 23 is Rot (red). IMO it is just a bit oranger than Insignia Red

Hint: many white decals are translucent when applied resulting,in your case, with a pink disc. Apply a similarly sized circle of white trim decal to the red area before applying the white & swaztika Decal.

That would be Vallejo 71.102, right?

I hope to use Vallejo but will use any acryic paint.

I wonder if Ammo Mig red 049 is too orange. It looks more red than number 6 in that chart. Of all the ones I have on hand that I’ve looked at that one look the closest.