Painting a cowling, doing it right this time - I hope
The rustoleum primers work well with enamel based paints. If you try to spray lacquer over enamel(I don't care what brand you are using they won't be compatible) I have never had an issue with them drying, they dry very quickly and are very easy to apply. In my opinion, the rustoleum is far superior to the lustercoat or perfect paint. They have a high solids content and dispense well from the cans. Lustrekote is hit or miss sometime the cans work sometimes they don't.The key to a good finish is to prepare the surface properly. If you are painting fiberglass you must wash the surface with soap and water first to remove any release agent. Then wipe the surface down with MEK or acetone to remove any residual oils. If there are any imperfections or seams they need to be filled with a good quality body filler. Sand the surface smooth. At this point you need to apply a heavy coat of a sandable grey auto primer to fill all the pinholes. Start wet sanding 220-320 grit until everything is smooth. The surface will appear like a multi colored mess with body filler showing through in spots and primer in others. Wash the surface and let it dry. Spray on a couple of light coats of sandable white primer. Your surface should be nearly perfectly smooth. Mix up some spot putty and fill any small imperfections. Wet sand with 400 then 600 grit. Apply 2-3 coats of color and let dry. I then wet sand the color coat with 1200 or 1500 grit and then apply a clear coat. By the time you are done you should be able to see your reflection in the cowl. If you need to apply a multi color trim scheme let each color dry at least 24 hours before applying masking material to it. Great planes makes 1/4" and 1/8" tapes for painting that work very well and give you very crisp paint lines. If I was going to paint a large surface like a glass fuselage I would use automotive basecoat/clearcoat system and a spray gun.