hello Mike, most of my late 8 years building is done like this painting over monokote or ultracote. i rather use a base color as sold like white, custom mix paint for the same color to use on fuselage and paint the remaining design over the covering. simply scuff with 1200 sandpaper, paint over and then clear coat everything. the only "donīt do" is to overlap coloros using masking tape, is likely to pull the paint underneath.
on both planes the wings and tail are monokoted and the remaining colors are painted over. fuselage always painted. if i can be of further help, let me know.
if you paint over the clear, then will be really difficult to mask without pulling off the paint, even well scuffed. maybe you can use a plastic surface adherence promoter (not sure of USA name of that) car painters use to seal plastic bumpers and paint over it.
regards

I am going to have to stop using dope and tissue type coverings for a couple of reasons.  Has anyone tried covering with transparent Ultracote ,scuffing it and then painting over it.  There are colors I would like to use over the film. 

Thank you
Mike

This wing is covered with transparent Ultracote. I wet scuffed it with 1000 grit sprayed with Windex. I use Duplicolor products so this was lightly primed with their light bodied primer just to stabilize the color. Lightly sanded with 600 grit and Windex. Then Duplicolor white lacquer lightly applied and two coats of red lacquer. Two coats of SprayMax clear and done. I had no problem masking the white to apply the red. No paint issues at all. I've had no fuel issues with the SprayMax.

Paul

One thing about painting over plastic coverings is, you can scuff it up and get a mechanical bond, but you won't get a chemical bond. Thus Fred's comment about back masking and pulling up paint when you pull tape.

Mike I'e done so many of them I've lost track of the total number It isn't difficult. Cover the model mask off the areas that you want to paint. fine sand the area with 1200 or 1500 sand paper the area to be painted Spray a White primer on. Sand it really smooth and even. I use White auto primer from American Auto supply in spray cans I used Rustoleum spray cans as it is fuel proof. Read directions on can and make sure you re coat within 45 minutes or wait 48 hours for the next coat to go on. Think thin coats as it is a pain  to get rid of the edge to smooth into the finish.Also it can get heavy fast. You won't get to the front row finish but if you look at Pat Kings catalog you will find a few that I did for his models.I usually do minimalist finishes for a sport model.

Dennis what grit sandpaper do you use to sand the white primer? Your models are beautiful by the way.

Mike

This wing is covered with transparent Ultracote. I wet scuffed it with 1000 grit sprayed with Windex. I use Duplicolor products so this was lightly primed with their light bodied primer just to stabilize the color. Lightly sanded with 600 grit and Windex. Then Duplicolor white lacquer lightly applied and two coats of red lacquer. Two coats of SprayMax clear and done. I had no problem masking the white to apply the red. No paint issues at all. I've had no fuel issues with the SprayMax.

Paul

Thank you Paul.  A really pretty model.

Mike

One thing about painting over plastic coverings is, you can scuff it up and get a mechanical bond, but you won't get a chemical bond. Thus Fred's comment about back masking and pulling up paint when you pull tape.

True, but I have at least three Monocoated and Rustoleum-painted airplanes with hundreds of flights on them, and that's without scuffing the 'coat.  The worst chipping is a spot on one where the trim color didn't stick to the white Rustoleum on the fuselage, because it had cured for about a week and I didn't scuff it.

Of course if you can find the proper colors in super Monokote you can do the entire plane without paint. Just layout your color scheme and make some patterns out paper, use those patterns to cut your super Monokote shapes and apply to the model. Note that you can assemble the pieces of Monokote before laying out on the model. It will stick to itself. you can work out all the air on a flat surface before laying it out on the model and then using a iron and heat gun tacking it down and shrinking it. The Vector 40 was don all in super Monokote. No paint or the sticky trim sheets used. It just requires a lot of thought and prep beforehand. Using all monokote in the desired colors can get pricey though unless you already have a large of colors left over from prior projects. The Monokote colors are Pearl Blue, Metallic Blue, Transparent Blue, White, Gold, Chrome.