Hello Jack,
Thanks for the upload on the Dept. Store Victa's, Paul's example of this model looks very nicely restored. I'm assuming the red was not a hammertone paint of any kind an may explain the extra time needed in priming these plates when using a solid red colour.
Green models of this type I didn't know about and finding evidence of this being the case is excellent news, would you know if it was hammertone green like the others or just a solid green.
Thanks for your time in my response.
Steve.