Thanks MM I think I will do that. sounds like very good advice.Ive got heaps of spare ply and mdf laying around. I was thinking towards learning the colour matching side of things as well. but where do you stop, theres so many diferent colours and every pf is diferent anyway..

Firstly, buy yourself a Pantone paint-colour guide (aka colour bridge), you'll need it to match colours properly, it also contains the paint codes for your paint supply to mix up for you.
They cost $80 to $150 on ebay, just look for the cheapest deal, and make sure it's 2014 model, anything older will be faded and inaccurate.