Mr. Color - lodní červená

The red below the waterline

Throughout the twentieth century the underwater part of a ship's hull received an antifouling coat. The copper compounds in it gave the paint its characteristic brick reddish-brown tone, which appeared on docked vessels again and again regardless of whether it was a battleship, a tanker or a fishing cutter. The boundary between it and the gray above-water part runs exactly along the waterline and is one of the most striking features of every ship model.

The shade also suits building waterline models, where only a narrow strip above the surface remains visible, and depicting a ship on a slipway or in a dry dock, where the whole bottom is exposed. The same red was also carried on the inner faces of some covers and tanks.

A base for wear

Few areas on a model take as much distressing work as a ship's bottom. Under the coat show places rubbed bare by the anchor chain, by ice or by ropes, and that is exactly why it pays to lay a dark base under this shade and then cut through the paint here and there with an abrasive sponge. Dry pigment adds the salt and rust cast.

The material is nitro based; once thinned with the thinner of the same brand it is applied with a gun and dries fast. The subdued character of the shade matches the real coat, which was never glossy. The package holds 10 ml.

On large hulls it pays to bring the surface to life once it has dried: run some panels in a darker and some in a lighter variation of the same tone. A slight difference is enough, in miniature it shows strongly and the bottom stops looking like a single flat area.