Be patient. That is the best advice I can give you.
You need to know that this process (done PROPERLY) takes a few days. In the end youll end up with mirror finish.
A good guide can be found
here. But the basics are:
-Sand (wet is prefered) the piece you want to paint. You dont need to expose metal, but you want a nice flush surface.
-Clean the piece with alcohol.
-Primer the piece then wetsand it to keep it flat. Repeat this process until you have done a few coats and it is VERY flat.
-Clean the piece with alcohol.
-Paint the piece with the color you want. Let it dry as long as possible (a few hours is what you want, overnight is great) then wetsand. Repeat this proces AS MANY TIMES AS YOU CAN. Paint, wetsand, paint, wetsand, paint, wetsand..... as long as you can bear it.
-Put one more coat on it and then wetsand in steps from 1000 to 2000 grit sandpaper.
-Polish with rubbing compound (as fine as you can find).
-If you feel confident in it, put a high gloss clearcoat on it. If not, thats okay but youll have to be careful near it. Be sure you wax it on occasion.