Cut the body before or after painting.

[Ucsdmutt]

Cutting includes drilling any holes.

[GoMachV]

I mark and sometimes drill first, then paint, then cut. Use a very sharp knife and just score the lexan, then break/tear it

[TRX-1-3]

Sometimes overspray seems to be less when I paint before I cut. Plus you can "mask past" your lines if you are a masking tape guy. I guess it depends kind of on if you've got protective film.

I'll leave it with this: I am most disappointed when I paint a cut body with no protective film on the exterior.

[Basher67]

I am definitely a cut before paint guy. Any overspray can be avoided with masking and cleaned up with rubbing alcohol if it happens anyway. Trying to blindly trim a body and drill body post holes after the fact has never worked out for me. Of course, you can always premark where to drill and cut before you paint, but then you're back to cleanup of the outside of the shell with alcohol again to remove any remaining marks. Trimming and drilling the body before paint also has the advantage of letting you see where any possible "rub" spots will be on the body when it is fitted up properly. You can then take steps to prevent the rub spot from rubbing off your new paint job before it becomes a problem. The type of body you're painting might have sway in the decision too. An RC10 body with clear cutlines could easily be trimmed after the paint, but try prepainting a pan car body and then figure out where to cut the wheelwells and body post holes. It's not impossible, but it can turn fun into tedious in a big hurry with less of a chance of good results. Just my 2 cents.

[Ucsdmutt]

I have a side question, when using liquid mask, should you do all your cuts before spraying each color? Or rather should you just cut what you need to paint and cut as you paint?

[Basher67]

I'm not a fan of liquid mask myself. Someone with more experience with it might be able to give more insight, but usually, when using liquid mask, you draw your design on the outside of the body. Once the liquid mask dries, you can see through it to see your drawn lines to know where to make your cuts. You would have to make all your cuts first, otherwise after you applied the first color, you wouldn't be able to see where to make the next cuts. I prefer to use a combination of thin flexible masking tape for compound curves and designs and different widths of tamiya masking tape for straight lines and then fill in larger areas with regular masking tape. Sometimes I use the blank uncut masking sheets and draw and precut the design I want. I then remove each section of masking as I go through the colors of the paint job. It takes a little bit of planning and prep work, but this has netted me my best results. Hope this helps