Splash paints are really good! Just make sure to let them flash off between coats as they can be quite aggressive on the plastic, even with a primer base.
As it has been said before, "build your model the way YOU like it, if others don't like it, that's okay. Let THEM do it their way." (Or something to that effect... 😉)
Sorry to hear this, was looking forward to your progress. One thing to be said for Tamiya, they do make it hard to build anything else (with few exceptions...).