It may be easier to keep the same distance and spray pattern if you had a turn table of sorts to spin the piece as you're painting it.
Below is a homemade fuel tank rotisserie made from some welded square tubing mounted to an engine stand.
Something like this would allow you to keep your body posture consistent while turning the tank and keeping the paint evenly applied.
The last picture shows it in position with a shelf on the bottom to hold a drying tub.
You can put old paint in there to dry so it can be thrown in the trash. It also works to catch water from wet sanding, and it will also catch overspray some as well.
Use a tape that is made for taping over painted areas so it won't pull up the paint below it when removed.
However, whether you use tape, cellophane, paper or any other masking device, the paint below it needs to be dry enough not to stick to it.
3M painter's tape sticks well and won't remove existing paint. 6) | ||
For free hand work, you can make your own templates for circles, corners and general lines.
The template can be an shape and size that is comfortable to you. Generally, circles and ovals are very helpful.
The template below was drawn and cut out of a thin plastic sheet. You can see where the template was used to create the illusion of fire.
Guys have been using the BBQ paint for years with no problems. No curing process is needed. 7)
You can put painted parts in an oven or a BBQ grill and heat to 200° F to cure the paint. 8)
An oven thermometer was installed in the side of the grill below.
Propping the lid open kept the heat down.
Don't heat iron heads much more than that though. It could damage the springs. 200°F is plenty hot to cure the paint, but not too hot as to warp the springs.