Painting a frame any tips??

[RODeo]

This may seem like a dumb question ,as Ive painted various frames for go karts ,bikes etc over the years,but never a frame that requires a good finish on the first go. Please bear with me.........................The paint I am going to use will take a long time to harden and therefore I will have to wait, if I make any cock ups, to rub down and re do areas,hence my panic to get it reasonably right first go and be done with it. Usually I hang the frames up in the boiler house at work which is just the right temp to allow the paint to spread out and level off. This time the frame is too large to get there ,so Im going to build a plastic 'tent' ,in my garage,that also covers the floor and walls as well ,to stop any dust etc being kicked up.I will then bung a couple of heaters in there to get the temp up a bit. Now personally  I like brush painting some frames using combicolour,and I ve had some excellent results,but there are so many brackets and tabs on this frame that Im worried the paint may collect and drip off the brackets as I roll the frame over on the 'spit' I built. So Im gonna use the same paint ,but in spray form.(wearing a proper respirator)
 S-o-o-o....anyone got any tips or encouraging ideas? (or want to help lol!...bbq and beer supplied)
                    Rod

[tbone]

oooh proper paintin! out of my depth i`m afraid.

[RODeo]

Nah,not proper painting,just rattle cans and a good quality filter mask! Not forgetting of course I estimate over 100 hours of prepping !(and its guaranteed I'll miss some bits ! 

[voodoo]

Believe it or not you can get rattle cans from B&Q etc that are excellent for frames..the stuff is called Plasticote and comes in a range of colours inc Black....Ive used the stuff many times when I cant be ass'd to get out the spray guns....Voodoo.....

[Al]

hi newbie here

for years i used to powder coat and that was that but cost a fortune but when i was in a paint supplier i got talking to him and he told why i didnt use smoothrite and spray it i thought he was talking about spray smooth rite in cans but he then told me that you can put smoothrite through a gun and just use a thinner tried it out cost me about £20 to paint frame with about 3 coats and plenty of thinners left and only used between 1 litre to 1and half found the outcome was great not bad finish and it was still quite durable at £20 quid helpful in the pocket
but if you are going to spray in tent have you got anything for the over spray tent will getfull quite quickly
i cant remember name of thinners but will find out later post it if you need it
al

[Manky Monkey]

Hi Siral -& welcome to the forum. 
Hammerite used to be wonderful stuff -really thick & gloopy - but seems to have been watered down, (literally), over the past few years. It doesn't seem to cover half as well as it used to. Maybe spraying the brush on version through a spray gun as you say would give better results. Worth trying.
personally, I still powder-coat everything. 

[voodoo]

On my own bikes I just paint them with 2k paint as it looks good and last for ever...Voodoo...