Hi Flygilmore –
I hate red plastic, too. You’ll definitely want to prime. Any of the Testors light greys should work for a primer. Once you get the kit back to a “normal” color, you can begin your finishing steps. For my Fokker that Tim mentioned, I happened to use oil paint as an experiment, but the techniques can probably be used with the paint of your choice. I started with a generic light tan (i.e. – canvas) color, and then seal coated it with clear. Next, I then streaked a couple of different greens – one dark and one olive – in a parallel direction using a wide, stiff (and cheap!) brush. I then airbrushed a light mix of olive green over the top to blend things together – almost a “fog.” The wings were actually easier than the fuselage, because the streaking changes angle at the top decking – or so it seemed to me in pictures. It’s probably worth a trial run on an old wing first. The main thing is to have fun – and make sure you apply a seal coat in between steps if you decide to use oil paints. BTW – I painted the white panels for the crosses after all the streaking was done, so the streaks were consistent across the chord of the wing.
Good luck, have fun, and let’s see pictures when it’s finished (the streaking first and then the whole kit!)