You can try 24 hours, but a lot depends on what you are going to mask it with. The stickier whatever it is you use, the longer I would wait. Personally, I would give it a couple of days. I have also found that the thinner the masking, the smaller the ridge. I have some of that bad "super bright" Bare Metal that doesn't really stick well enough to use for detailing, but works great for two tones. It leaves a very little ridge. Take your time, you don't want to mess up what you have already done.
Here are a couple I did using BM.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y18...a/38e120b2.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y18...a/100_1014.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y18...I/100_1226.jpg
Be sure to show us pics after you do it.

A day should be sufficient. I've had issues with paint pulling up no matter how long I waited, I'm pretty sure it was bad prep on my part. I try to use 3m fine line tape

ok, thanks guys. I'm gonna try pretty hard on this model to step up from the GTO as far as over all finish so don't fear, there will be many pics. I got those 23Ts from pegasus and one of them is really poorly chromed which aggravates the crap out of me when they're frickin 8 bucks for 4 tiny pieces of plastic and some rubber ... but aaaaaaaanyway. Compared to the cost of a model does anyone else think we should be getting a whole box full of wheels and tires for that kind of money? ok seriously ... i'm done. thanks again for the help.

Pegasus is a rather small operation as far as car modeling is concerned. Its not cheap to have things chromed. Who did you order them from? Most online hobby shops and distributors are pretty good about customer service. I've yet to have any issues with pegasus wheels. Try going through customer service and see if you can get a replacement set.

well i'm sure I've tossed the information and i've had them for quite awhile ... a month prolly. I got them from Hobby Linc ... just found the email. On one of the wheels you can still see the plastic color on the sides of the spokes like the chrome fades to clear around the edges. This whole thing with the Challenger has been very ... challenging, because my glass is effed up, I can't get BMF here in town and I already stripped the bumpers, the humidity made my paint crinkle a little last night so I'll have to work on that. this is a rebuild and i can't get two of the head lights out. i guess i glued them in REAL good. i've masked them off which i know isn't working very well. couldn't get the hood pins sanded off very well without hitting other parts of the hood with the sand paper that i didn't want to sand on anymore. gggrrrr.

We all run into these little issues on our builds from time to time. Hobby Linc, I think I've ordered from them, they are on the east coast right? Georgia or alabama or somewhere round there, Shoot them an e-mail most places are more than happy to work with you. I ordered some pegasus resin disc brakes once and only received part of the order, they sent me a handful and I had them within a week. Never know if you don't try

As for the headlights, next time try sticking it in the freezer I've heard that helps to separate the parts. I hear ya on the BMF bit, I wish I could get it local. It sucks having to have a sheet shipped to you by itself, by the time the shipping is paid for you could have bought 2 sheets, or a set of wheels or other goodies. On the hood pins. Next time you are in wal mart go to the health and beauty supplies and pick up some of the bulk pack cheap nail files. THey are great for removing detail. They work rather quickly because of the grit, but once followed with some 800 grit to clean up, your golden. Sometimes it takes 800, primer and again with the 800 a time or two. Just keep an eye out when you sand off details, mold lines, badges, etc. A lot of times you get ghosting. I had a can of white plastic primer from duplicolor, but I cannot find it. I was going to give that a go and see if it prevented the ghosting. One way to get around that is to go to Home Depot and pick up a spray can of Zinser BIN. Prime, once your happy with the body work, spray with the BIN and it will seal everything off and all of the ghosting from the primer will not show through on the finished paint.

I just called them a minute ago and they were real cool except I had to do it online. So I sent in my request (i'm actually over the 30 day period but they don't see to mind) and I'm supposed to get an email back in a couple days to let me know if they are going to let me send them back. I think Georgia is right. I don't have the box they came in either .... :_paranoid
I've been using the cheap nail files and they are great ... i like being able to cut them down and get into tight spaces. Even so, the hood pins on the Challenger are right next to that spiffy little shape ... how do I describe it ... even if you had a flat hood there is a shape molded in that follows onto the tops of the fenders. Does that make sense? I had a hell of a time getting ANYTHING into that aread without rounding off those body lines.

Another thing is that my glass is messed up so I'm working on getting Revell to send me a new one without a receipt or UPC or instruction sheet or anything else cause I don't have any of it.

All those things can be very agrevating. I have used layers of masking tape to save surounding details and body lines. What I have done with things like hood pins (and even name plates & door handles) is trim it as far down with an exacto knife, sand, and then a little trick to prevent ghosting, bush a thin coat of testors or MM liquid cement over it and wait for it to dry. It will "relax" the plastic so it doesn't reappear. And I just sand it back down again when it is dry. Just a thought, I dont know how factory correct you are trying to make this, but I know 71 Challengers had a rubber (or what ever it is called) bumper option. So you could get away with painting them with the rest of the car. I am doing that on my 71.

I'm definitely going to have to remember that liquid cement tip

ha, there is going to be nothing correct about any of my cars. I'm all about modified and since they're models i'm just doing whatever i think is cool. Since my paint crinkled slightly i took out the 600 grit and knocked it down then gave it another coat ... that ALLLLL most got rid of all ghosting so i'm pretty happy with my progress at this point. i'll be remembering that tip with the cement though ... it's funny that you say that because just last night i was looking at yet another hood hole i filled on an AMT Challenger and noticed that the very thinnest styrene i used on the under side of the hood actually molded itself into the contours of the underside of the hood where it wasn't exactly flat .... like it had melted from the cement.
i thought about painting the bumpers but i just don wanna! it's gonna be a black car and it would look so killer with chrome bumpers, my big chrome wheels.... oh yeah. I need to order a few things, including more wheels so i'll get some various items all at once .... there is a hobby lobby near by (kinda) that i'm go see if they have any of this fun stuff - BMF, wheels, more models, you know.