Jake,

You can use paint to color your plane but it would just add weight. If you are going to use Monokote after the paint, you would be better off using your favorite color of monokote. Painting will add weight to your plane and it is hard to get a good looking Finnish without a lot of work. When I paint a model, I sheet the wings with plywood, cover with fiberglass resin and then paint with Top Flight paint. This produces a nice finnish, but add on the weight.

Bob