I am planning to paint my JT1 gas tank soon, and I am curious how you use the tape for the pinstripe border?

I purchased the proper pin stripe tape that is sold for this very purpose at the proper width.  I realize that you paint the tank with the base coat. But how soon should you apply the pinstripe tape over the base coat?

Then you spray the final color over the pinstripe tape. But how soon should you peel back the pinstripe tape after your final top cote?

Then I assume you apply the clear cote after removal of the pin stripe tape. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I am almost thinking about hiring my automotive pin stripe guy to paint the stripes. He does amazing work, and I have old original tanks for example purposes.
 

What you're asking depends completely on the paint...  I worked in a custom paint and body shop during college.  Small shop. 

(Trivia: The owner of the body shop was the original "Andy" who painted a few RC car bodies for the Losi's back when they bought the historic Ranch Pit Shop and RC track in Pomona, CA and admired the paint on Andy's personal RC cars.  (RC car bodies all came clear back in those days.  You had to paint them yourself.)  The Ranch sold Andy's custom painted bodies immediately...  very popular.  I remember people waiting at the counter when we'd show up with a few painted bodies and picked up a few new ones to paint. The Losi's wanted more.  Andy was very busy with customizing full size cars...  and he had a "thing" about never repeating a paint job.  So the Losi's got someone else to paint the clear plastic bodies on more of a "production line"...  "Andy's Paint" prepainted RC bodies turned into a huge business.  The original "Andy" was not a part of it.) 

Anyway, most paint has a recoat time "window".  So you have to let it dry long enough so the tape doesn't mess it up but not too long so that you've missed the "window" and the white base coat "kicks off" and wrinkles underneath the final color coat.  The window is usually just a few hours and it's kind of risky.  Often what we would do was let the car sit for one to two weeks so the paint was fully cured before taping and applying the next color.

A trick when it was a rush job was spraying an old door or something at the same time as the first coat.  Then we could test applying tape and test spraying over the tape to make sure the first coat wouldn't wrinkle.  It's also helpful to test tape removal... which Andy always did pretty much as soon as the paint was dry to the touch...   

If it sounds like a lot of hassle, it is.  Even a pro like Andy used to have failures and have to start over.  There is a reason a pro paint job costs so much and often takes weeks.  It's not as easy as it sounds...  on the other hand, it's not something you can't do yourself if you're careful and patient.  Practicing "technique" and "timing" on an old panel or tank really can help. 

Keep in mind I'm no expert on anything...  especially PAINT!  You probably can get better advice on YouTube these days.

I realized I probably just stated the obvious...  what I would do is allow plenty of time...  like two weeks...  for the base coat white to completely dry.

Also paint something else with the same paint...  scrap sheet metal or something. 

After first step is dry and cured, apply the tape to the tank and a few strips of tape to your other panel.  Paint both the tank and the other panel with the final color.  Now you can use the strips of tape on the scrap panel to test and practice when it is safe to remove the tape.  Andy always said if you wait too long to remove the tape it's more likely to "chip" along the edge.

Great info and suggestions! And since I have as much time as needed, I am going to go with the long time cure on the base cote, and I will do the good part / test part method to determine my tape pull timing.

I can do this! My confidence is high after taking on my DT360 paint job. The fuel and oil tank turned out WAY better than I ever thought they would.