Yes, paint thickness looks like something you could work on. Red is hard, but not as hard as yellow, so take heart. You'll want to plan for 3 layers of red, minimum, with more possible.
After that, you can try to add some depth to the red. Check out some videos on blending, or read this:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/627571.page