How long do you leave your canopy mask on?

I leave my canopy off until I'm finished painting/washing/decaling whatever.  It is the last piece I glue on.

What I do is take some tamiya masking tape and cover the cockpit opening.  Then I take a new #11 blade and cut along the canopy rails so that the cockpit is covered but the tape doesn't interfere with painting.

This way, I am absolutely guaranteed to not get stray paint/primer/gloss/matte on or under the canopy.  After I dip the canopy in future, mask it, dip it, paint it and dip it one last time, I leave it in it's drying container until I'm ready to attach it to the plane.  At that point, I remove the tape from the cockpit (which comes off no problem as the contact area was so small) and use watch crystal glue to attach the finished canopy to the finished model.

-Fred

I remove all masks as soon as I'm finished painting. Even if there is a multi color scheme I paint the colors in the order I wish, one on top of another, the only dry time between coats is the time it takes me to clean and reload the AB.

Everytime I've let the paint dry and removed the masks there have been tiny chips along the tape edge. Or a big step where the paint piled up against the mask. I've had much better results removing the masks while the paint still has a chance to move and settle out.

my .02