The red while being the hardest you say to pull off should be the most rewarding. It is a good color and the green is made to seem less bright. Thus the eye is only trying to focus on one point and not many all at once as was the problem with the original paint scheme. If anyone can pull off that shade of red I am sure you can. As a side note nick does make a point of the model does have some innate design problems. For me I would say its the awkward looking flanges around the joints. But again this is a side note on preference of the model and not the paint so ergo off topic. Either path you choose best of luck and yes indeed less pastel please.