The thread I spied about this plane is posted over at Stuka. It was mentioned that the red and black is colored tissue.
It would be nice to find the 1/2 A Nobler drawings. This is such a timeless design and would look just as good with a Q-40 wing and a screaming Nelson as it would any other way you could wish to do it.
With a fine enough sanding job down to about 600 I was wondering if wiping the wood down with copy machine yellow ink would work, followed up with a clear fuel proofer..?