The model is progressing exceptionally well George, I like your green camo streaks and the prop.. I don't know how to make oil paint dry quickly except dry warm air, a welding rod storage cupboard would be handy.

Some very good progress on the propeller, George @gblair

I checked the plane yesterday and the oils were still tacky. I was getting a little frustrated because there is very little I can do until the oils dry. I decided to take a chance to see if I could move on. Doing things like this when I am frustrated usually ends in catastrophe, but this time, it worked. I decided to spray a layer of Tamiya Flat Clear over the top wing to see if it would result in a dry surface. I sprayed a fairly thick layer of clear over the surface of the wing and let it dry for several hours. Amazingly, the clear was dry to the touch and the upper part of the wing was ready to go back to work. I sprayed some more Tamiya Clear over the rest of the camo and let it dry overnight. This morning it was ready to go.

I wanted to get the markings sprayed onto the various parts of the plane before I started assembling things. I figured it would be easier to use the masks I made before I complicated things with stuff that would require additional masking. I wanted to spray the black markings first. The masks that I had cut on my wife's Brother Scan and Cut seemed to go down perfectly on the model's surface, although I discovered it was difficult to position the markings correctly. Some of the markings took several attempts to get them positioned, but I think they will be OK. I sprayed a thin mix of Tamiya Flat Black at about 15 psi. I tried to keep my airbrush at 90 degrees to the surface to minimize any under-spray. I gave everything about 30 minutes to dry, then I removed the masks. There were a couple of places I will need to fix, but I am happy overall. The worst issue I had is one of the masks pulled up one rib tape, so I will need to fix that tomorrow. I will paint the large fuselage numbers tomorrow, then on to assembly. Yeah.

8 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Glad you could finally continue, George @gblair
Those painted markings do look really nice.

Nice to see some more progress George (@gblair). It can be frustrating waiting on oils, especially when they cover such a large area on the model. What I've done is similar to what you did. After waiting for a period of time, I spray either with gloss or clear (depending upon the need at the moment). One thing I do however is start with a thin coat first and let that dry. This way, you don't have a heavy chemical coating of clear coat over the oils that could possibly react with the oils before it dries. The thinner coat adds that extra bit of insurance.

I love the way this triplane is turning out. The paint scheme is one of those that looks especially intimidating when you are examining it before the actual act of painting. Well done so far.

Positioning the masks for national markings can sometimes be easier if you position the mask for the marking (the cross) first and then use that as a guide to position the actual paint mask (the area around the cross). Then remove the area over the cross.

George (@gblair), I neglected to mention that it is generally a good idea to create extra masks when cutting them as sometimes they don't work out.

Yes, George (@gblair), I still have trouble with corners, especially on smaller decals. I've heard that the newer Silhouette Portrait 4 has updated software that makes this work better, but I am not prepared to shell out more money for an updated cutter. I usually try to test the masks first, first with paper (you can print rather than cut) to check size, then on smaller scraps to test cutting. I think masking material wastage is just part of the game when trying to learn this tool, unfortunately.

I got some work done today, but I didn't get as far as I hoped. I am trying to stop in between each step so that I can think about the best way to attack the process. Hopefully this will also keep me from making an unrecoverable mistake. I would like to get all of the prep work and painting done tomorrow and add the landing gear, and then add the top wing on Saturday. I have my fingers crossed.

12 attached images. Click to enlarge.