Mr. Color - RLM23 červená

The same shade in lacquer form

Red number 23 is made in two lines: water-thinnable and lacquer. The lacquer form has a harder dried film, takes masking tape better and can be polished, which pays off on sharp stripes and numbers. The price for that is the need to ventilate the workspace and to thin it only with a product from the same line.

Where the shade is used

The paint served for national insignia, for tactical numbers, for the stripes of command machines and for marking dangerous places on an airframe. It also appears on the undersurfaces of trainers that were meant to be easy to see from the ground.

Coverage and procedure

• A white base is practically a necessity with red, otherwise the shade loses its saturation
• Apply thin coats; one wet one runs off the edges of a part
• Wait with tape until the coat has cured completely, otherwise it will come away with it
• Stir the contents, as saturated colorants sink to the bottom very quickly

Choosing between spraying and a decal

On straight stripes spraying is usually cleaner and more accurate in color, while on complex shapes, numbers and insignia a decal is more reliable. A combination of the two is common: spray the large areas and add the small markings with decals. A dried lacquer film is a good base for decals, provided it is overcoated with a gloss clear.

Additional notes

• Let the paint cure for at least a day under masking tape, not a few hours
• A sharp stripe edge is helped by drawing a clear coat over the edge before the red is sprayed
• Flush paint residue out of the gun at once, as saturated pigments settle in the nozzle

Saturated red is among the paints that are hardest to clean out of a gun. It pays to spray it last in the sequence and to allow more time for flushing than with other shades.