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My brother is painting some Blood Angels and desptie priming he's not getting full paint coverage. There are noticeable places where the black base coat shows through. He's tried watering it down as well, and a second coat.

Red over a black basecoat can be tough to execute cleanly.
For BA generally I'd recommend priming the model in red but if that's not an option, multiple thin coats is what works best IMO.

Just a question, what Red is he using straight over the black undercoat? Because if he is just going over the black with a red layer paint and not a base paint, the black is definitely going to show through.
And also even coverage when painting is important as well.

Maybe show us a pic? That could help with getting the problem solved

(Or he could be thinning the paint too much)

Yeah you're not going to get good coverage of red over black in 1 coat, or 2 coats for that matter. Expect to be doing 3+ coats.

Mephiston red has good coverage for a red, so use that as your basecoat, but it's still going to take a few coats to get a nice solid layer.

Duncan has a tutorial on painting Blood Angles, you can see he uses 2 coats of Mephiston to cover the black, even then I'd say he's probably laying it on too thick...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9HzqHVg1uE

I actually prefer to use a lighter colour like a grey or a white as a primer for red then apply a wash if I want to darken it down.

I'm in a similar situation. I primer in black because the main colour of my marines is leadbelcher, but red is their secondary colour. I do 2 coats of Mephiston and get decent but not always perfect coverage. By the time I then wash it and layer with Evil Sunz Scarlet it looks fine.

So multiple coats is the way to go. If you're not washing and/or layering, expect 3 coats.

Also, which red is he trying it with?

I worked on some justicaerin terminators. Before applying red layer I put in layer of white. That helped a lot. White didn't even need to be particularly full coverage. But straight over black is going to be trouble.

I've been painting my Blood Angels with Mephiston Red over a black undercoat and it takes about 7 thin layers to get a strong coat of red

Try acrylic gouache?

https://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Testing_Acrylic_Gouache_Paint

 Dreadclaw69 wrote:
I've been painting my Blood Angels with Mephiston Red over a black undercoat and it takes about 7 thin layers to get a strong coat of red

I think at that point you obviously care enough about your models that you're probably best off starting with a dark red and layering or even glazing your way up to get nice blends as well.

If I was putting down 7 coats on each and every Blood Angel, I think at that point I'd either put down the money for an airbrush (if I didn't already own one) or just invest in some coloured spray cans.

If you're looking for spray cans, I can recommend Tamiya, though maybe not the cheapest option they do go on silky smooth. You can probably spray, I dunno, maybe 40 or 50ish models with a single can if you're careful with how you use it.

IMHO, GW is very weak in the red department. They don't have a good dark red. Khorne Red is the darkest and it is rubbish IMHO... it is more of a medium red.

If you want to stay within GW, I'd start with something like a Rhinox Hide / Khorne Red mix. If you are open to non GW paints: I'd suggest something like:

P3 Sanguine Base -> P3 Khador Red Base midtone.

I'm using Reaper Clotted Red as a base -> P3 Khador Red Base

 keezus wrote:
IMHO, GW is very weak in the red department. They don't have a good dark red.

To be honest, I can't remember the last time I owned a dark red, I always just mix one when I need one. Mephiston Red is thus far my favourite red for laying down a solid coat, if I'm trying to build up to a brighter red from a darker red I just mix in a little dark brown or black into Mephiston and then work up to Mephiston, then if I want to go brighter I start mixing in Vallejo Bloody Red (which is a good match for GW's old Blood Red).

The way I've been doing recently seems to work really well;
2 Coats of Vallejo heavy red;make sure that it has covered evenly and is not streaky.
Then finish with a coat of Mephiston red only when you are happy with the basecoat.

Prime with Army Painter red sprays (they have a couple colour options) and move on from there...done.

Try using a lighter-colored primer. I've had excellent results with two coats of Mephiston Red over Army Painter Uniform Grey. It doesn't look super bright like it would over white but covers much more easily than over black.

The Army Painter red spray primers are quite good, but beware that their matching red dropper-bottle paints have absolutely terrible coverage. I tried their Dragon Red and found touchups to be nearly impossible (which is a shame, since it's a really nice color). The Uniform Grey primer under Mephiston Red was my replacement and it has worked much better for me.

Agreed - avoid AP bottle paints, but their sprays are good.

I've never had much trouble with Mephiston red over black. Usually it only takes 2 coats to give decent coverage. Of course I may not be thinning it enough, but by time I do those 2 coats and then a layer or 2 of Evil Sunz Scarlet, it looks good enough for my KDK marines.

Don't forget to tell your brother that most painted models are lazy and badly done. Make sure to call his blotchy red marines proxies for properly painted blood angel models!

If priming black I have found a very gentle dusting of white spray to pick out details helps the base coat of red stand out better.

Or base coat red with spray. Tell him to be very careful not to clog up the details with paint!