I think you hit it on the head. If it looks good at arm length when done then it is probably fine. I have seen prize winning show builds with heavy panel line pre-shading that look nothing like an aircraft in real life. Yet the current fad seems to be what wins contests. Since I build for myself and to share with folks like those on this forum I certainly want to be authentic looking and historically correct if photos and documentation is available. But I don't care how good you are, you cannot tell me from a black and white photo that itself has faded you can deduce the exact shade of grey or blue or red or whatever was used. You may get close because of knowledge of your subject etc, but for every example you can show of adherence to a standard color scheme we can find 10 that show odd field alterations, individual customizations, battle damage hastily repaired etc.