Noob needs painting advice

[Rich_S]

Hi, all.  I've been a member here for a while, but this is my first post.  After several years of pedal mods, I'm working on my first two DIY pedals, a couple of overdrives.  You can probably guess what they are by the graphics.



I had mixed results finishing my first two pedals.  The one shown above went pretty well - Small Bear satin powdercoated box, with clear inkjet decals (prepped with Micro Set), then about six coats of Krylon clear acrylic.  I'm happy with the results.  However, it's twin is an identical green box, and it gave me problems.  Apparently, the green powdercoat was harder and brittle; it chipped around holes adn didn't provide as much tooth for the clear, which lifted off in one spot already.

Anyway, my next project is going to be a "Charity Pedal" - another one of the above, but built for donation to my daughter's school fundraising auction.  Instead of geeky decal icons, I figured I'd turn this pedal over to one or more of the schools artsy students, show them this site (and Z Vex's) and tell them to have at it.  Obviously, I want to make sure this one-of-a-kind pedal comes out right, and stays that way.  So, I need to give them the right paint, and use the right top coat to preserve it.

I've read a LOT of the painting threads around here, but haven't found much of a consensus.  However I've gleaned some bits of wisdom, and propose the following finishing process:

1) Sand bare box and clean with Naptha
2) Duplicolor Self-Etching primer (recommended here)
3) Light neutral base color, either Duplicolor (because it matches the primer) or Krylon (because I've had good luck with it so far).
4) Turn the box over to the kids.  This is the first tricky part: Acrylics? Testor's model paint in little bottles? (THAT brings back memories of my youth.)  What do you recommend?
5) Get the painted box back and protect it with clear.  Second tricky part: what clear to use so as not of mess up the hand painted graphics?  Again, Duplicolor or Krylon?  Something else?

So, what do you recommend to make this specail project as goof-proof as possible?