Don't be surprised if the red in the new decals looks the same - it's supposed to look dark and faded, the RAF colour being called 'Dull Red' . It's certainly not a bright red as on a fire engine. Note that both of the kits you have, although maybe showing 1990 as the release date, were originally released in 1968-1969, being the first commercially available plastic kits in this scale. This is why there are features such as retractable landing gear and working control surfaces - they were aimed at what was then a different market, where many sales came from the toy sector, with 'serious' modellers being overjoyed at this new, what was then huge scale, however inaccurate some of the kits might be.