ive read insomniac's reflection tutorial a few times, and there has to be another way that costs less money on supplies, and still gets you a "better than generic" finish. if anyone has any secrets, or has gotten lucky with a method, let me know, cause i know diddley-squat about painting (lol, see my "How can i fix a run?" thread of you dont believe me). can i just spray like 20 coats of clear coat on there, then polish it with some jewelry polishing stuff?

Thats somewhat the right idea. I dont know about using Jewerly polish though What i found works the best, keep in mind though that youll never get a professional mirror look with rattle can, is use about 6 to 7 coats of clear coat and wet sand with 1000 grit sandpaper in between each coat. Keep in mind also to let your paint cure and to solidify properly before you even think about taking sandpaper to it though. I usually allow a week for my base coat of color to dry and then start with the clear coat. My best suggestion is to lay down a coat of clear and let it dry 48 hours, then give it a light scrub with 1000 grit wet sand paper. Clean your product afterwards with something like 409 all purpose, or simple green. Repeat these steps several times and youll begin to see your work and patience pay off. At the end of the day the most important thing to keep in mind about painting is PATIENCE! Letting it dry properly and not rushing your paint will make your case stand out in the gallery. Good Luck and show us some pics when your done.

I basically use Insom's techniques with Dupli Color paint bombs, sand paper and low cost 3M compounds I bought at Wally World. Rubbing compound and sand paper are easy to find everywhere. The only thing you might need a speacialty paint store for is the polishing compound. Most the ones at Walmart and the like have wax in them. And you don't want to wax a fresh paint job, paint needs plenty of time to cure before you apply any kind of wax.

It's a helluva lot more work than if you have a nice gun to lay down the paint. Spray cans mean many more coats and the chance you can screw things up. But take your time, and follow Insom's guide on sanding and prepping. And you can get very nice results.

I do like Sparky said except I use 1000 and 1500 grit between clear coats. Then I use some 3m rubbing compound to get rid of the light scratches. After the compound I use some 3m Perfect-It III finishing glaze. This is cheap IMO since the rubbing compund only costs like 4 bucks and the glaze is like 7 or 8 bucks.