kongo texture map trouble

i was looking to give the kongo a red waterline but when i changed it the upper decks became red as well.

when i looked further i found the top split image that colors the waterline is shared for the upper deck walls behind the guns and the tower beams, which is probably why it appears as grey.

from the pattern of the image i see it is using a negative or reverse image of the waterline that is depicted in the bottom half of the top image in the NBB_Kongo_T01.dds file

as far as i can tell it is not using the NBB_Kongo_T01_lr.dds image at all because changes i made there never showed up in the game.

there is a small (smaller than normal) square that has a pin stripe with black hull and the pin stripe shows up on the hull but not the black hull, in fact i see no black appear anywhere.

my question is this, the kongo appears in the game with no waterline color at all so is this from a hex problem?