The paint colors is a moot point to me. Paint is paint as far as I'm concerened. If starting from scratch and building light edge fill or manners.......

If building a midweight say 8lbs or so I'm going gelcoat. I've painted stocks and just don't like them like a do the swirls or molded in camo.

I don't get the comment about waisting money by not going edge? Sometimes a Lil heavier stock is better when balance is a concern. To each his own though