I've just begun airplane modelling and I need some guidance. Its not at all clear to me "when" I should paint various parts of my model. It seems obvious that I should paint the smaller parts before I have glued them to the fuselage, but its less clear when I should be doing the major painting of the main aircraft body. Should I completely finish the kit assembly before painting the fuselage (thus necessitating a bunch of masking of the landing gear, armament, canopy, etc.) or should I do a basic assembly of the fuselage only (fuselage body, wings, tail, etc) and paint that before adding the smaller components?
I realize this must be a very basic question, so if any of you want to point me to a book that has this type of info that would also be appreciated.
Here's hoping that this forum is kind to beginners!