Two questions regarding white cedar:

Is white cedar fairly uniform in color? I am planning on building a stripper primarily of white cedar with red cedar accents and am wondering whether I'll have to number the strips as I rip them, or if random selection would be better.

Does white cedar hide scratches better than other woods? I built a Pygmy kit, and the mahogany came out fairly dark with the application of epoxy; the scratches are very light colored and very apparent. After getting conflicting advice about whether or not to varnish the hull, I went ahead and varnished it. This may not have been the best idea in terms of scratchability.

Thanks in advance! Dean