Painting sequence

What I'm asking is regarding sequence of laying down stripes on a base/ clear system. Should I clear coat the entire paint scheme first then tape off stripes, scuff the clear then paint a different color for stripe/design, then clear coat over that? Other way would be all base coat of two color scheme, tape off and paint stripes, then clear everything. Is either correct?

If you paint the stripes after the clear coat, you will be able to feel the edges of the stripes with your hand, and, you will not get the UV protection that most clear coats have.

Also, if you clear coat after all the colors are on and it gets scratched, then usually the scratches are not deep enough to get into the color, so it is easier to repair.

Definitely lay down your base colors including all your stripes and in my case even the vinyl numbers.
Depending on the paint you use, you should be able to (very lightly) sand the edges of the stripes and color changes before spraying the final clear coat.
Clear coat is your final coat and depending on your intentions after that coat, you may want to apply a little more or less clear coat.
You options at this point are to leave it as is or cut and polish the final clear coat. If you plan on cut and polish, a slightly heavier coat is desirable.
Good luck.

Like everything in building a RV, it depends.

Are you painting it yourself, or somebody else? The paint you use and the painter will dictate the best approach to use. I don't think there is a one size fits all answer.

In my case, white was SW jet Glo, which doesn't use a clear coat. I used SW Acry Glo Metallic for the stripes, which does require clear coat. My painter only clear coated the stripes. If you get within an inch or two, you can see the transitions. But from a foot or two away, they're invisible.

Watching him figure out the order of colors and taping for each was interesting and made me grateful I wasn't doing the painting.

Only concern is I'll be painting in stages, from my understanding it is best to clear right after base coat with minimum wait time.

I am no professional painter, but I have been researching the heck out of this recently, including talking to pros.

This is appropriate for a base/clear system, not for a single-stage system:

1) Prep and prime (not getting into those details right now)
2) spray the basecoat for the stripe freehand (no masking), let the edges feather.
3) wait the specified time before clear, apply 1-2 medium-wet coats of Intercoat clear to the stripe (not the same as your topcoat clear. You can get away without the intercoat clear, but it protects the basecoat from damage during taping. Since there is a clearcoat, you could repair any surface defects without damaging the basecoat. This is more critical for metalics.
4) Wait the specified time for tape, mask off the stripe.
5) Apply major color basecoat, or repeat the above for the second stripe.
6) Remove stripe masking
7)Spray clear, follow recoat times from the manufactuer!!!

To ensure the proper bonding, pick a piece and work it start-to-end. The recoat windows can be pretty narrow for base and clear. Most epoxy primers are 30min-3days. Base to clear can be <24hrs.

I painted my plane and hope to never do it again.....I agree with the above except you can not sand the edges of base stripe if it has any metallic in it, if you can do it all with in the chemical bond window, 24 hrs for most base clear paint, no need for inter coat clear, I had problems when I tried this route, sanded it all down and re did the rudder, first part I did. with good paint, you can lay 3M striping tape on bare base coat after 30 minutes or so. I did my wing checkers different ....after wet sand primer, lay base black, then I used pro mask entire wing, draw and cut out checkers remove for next color, then spray next color, then I spray diagonal hint of very light highlight third color on diagonal intersection corners, and then shadow fourth color for 3D effect, pull remaining tape and clear X 2. on the fuse I did free spray where the line would be, then mask over that to keep, then border color, then mask that off, then spray final remaining color, remove ALL tape and clear X 2......Just for one part, like a wing, I spent a week of clean, scuff, clean, primer, sand, clean, primer, sand, clean. and then 14 hrs in one shot for the paint......on one part. then add complexity of flowing patterns to flaps tips and aileron, or the fuse, on and off the rotisary, on and off of the cowl, back on rotisary and so on.........thinking back.....I think I spent 2.5 years painting this thing......WOW! and its not even that good, by all means, if you have and extra 10-20K, have someone else do it ;-)

All the base first, then clear.
Spray base for coverage, not gloss! It will look dull and crappy. It's okay.
If spraying metallics, spray a "drop coat" last to avoid tiger stripes.

You can take the raised edge of the stripe edges off by lightly scraping with the edge of a burnished razor blade. Curl the blade edge slightly (too small to see) by rubbing over a round rod (screwdriver shaft).
To take off some of the raised stripe edge, hold the blade nearly vertical, slightly tilted in the direction of scraping, and scrape along the stripe edge.

Then clear coat. Spray for gloss, moving the wet edge along with each pass. Re-coat when you can slide a gloved finger over the last coat without sticking. (on a test panel!) Be patient. Rushing to put on the second coat will give you solvent pop.

Good luck!