When you guys just doing "mop and glow" paint job, and not total restoration, do you take the surface prep work down to the bare metal?
If you are using the Rustoleum or similar good quality brushing enamel, you can hide all kinds of sins while painting over nasty looking machines. The surface still needs to be well cleaned, no oil, grease, or grime whatsoever, no loose paint, filler, or other stuff, and with some "tooth" for the paint to adhere to, not shiny. That is about all that is required, besides a good job of brushing. Filling with filler putty is optional, and quite fussy and time consuming, but done right it looks great! I am for sure no Rembrandt, but if you start on one corner and keep painting away from it, always working from a fresh wet edge on to the unpainted areas, you can get a really nice finish brushing it. Use plenty of paint or the brush marks will not flatten and smooth out, but not too much paint which can cause runs and sags. After the paint is spread out well, get away from it and don't go back. Harbor Freight brushes will not be your friend for this. Use good quality brushes, clean them up properly afterwards and take proper care of them, and they will last a lifetime. I use brushes older than I am. After finishing the first coat, look it over and see if it meets your standards. If so, done! If not, re-coat it after one hour, which usually looks really nice, much smoother and less imperfections visible underneath. Don't use any of my work as a great example, I don't get enough practice painting to be really good at it. My dad was a really good painter, and showed me most of what I know. I remember him getting on me for trying to spread the paint too thin, saying loudly "You can't paint without paint!!!"