I'm nearly ready to paint my roadster body. All body work is done and I'll be doing the final wet sand shortly. I've read thru a lot of threads but still can't decide whether to paint it with the body on or body off. Currently the body is off and it will certainly be easier to paint that way. I do have a paint booth with enough room to paint the body on the body buck, lay the hood and trunk flat on stands, and paint the doors mounted on a stand vertically so I get to all sides. So I can do all components at the same time.

I'll be painting it with a metallic paint (Viking Blue) and non-metallic white stripes. Base coat/clear coat. It seems the preference is to paint with the hood, doors and trunk installed to ensure the metallic paint looks consistent when finished and in the sun. However, it also seems many are not painted that way and turn out fine. I'm hoping to get opinions based on others experience.

If I do paint with the components installed, do I paint the jams first and what is the best way to do that?

Lastly, what is the best way to do the stripes? I don't want to feel the transition between the blue and white when its all complete. I realize that entails some extra work wet sanding the clear, but is it best to spray the white, tape the stripes and then blue. Or do the whole thing in blue then tape and paint the the white stripes.

Thanks in advance for any comments.