Masking is far less of a hassle than having to apply half a dozen coats of paint to get it to cover, if you ask me. White, yellow and red I would nearly always paint first then mask off, instead of trying to apply them over other colours, especially dark ones. See my spraying-can–painted F4F-3 for an example.The lightest to darkest principle is what seems logical, it's just that I've seen it done otherwise and wondered if there was an advantage to it. Maybe the complexity of the masking.
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