Nine times out of ten, the color is picked as well as the way the cars is going to be built before I get the kit . Only a small percentage of my stash, maybe 10 out of the 270 odd hasn't been decided on (usually picked up cause it was a good buy read cheap). As for the color selection, its amazing how much a couple coats of similar (or radically different) nail polish can do to the same basecoat color. The key is experimentation (of which, you are the master Virgil) , a pack of a hundred plastic spoons is cheap, doesn't use much paint to cover, I'll try and take a pic of mine this afternoon.