I have a pair of Harbor Freight HVLP guns that were reworked to clean out the silicone seal they were assembled with and sealed to prevent leaks that drip paint on the object being painted. Both give excellent results for both base and clear.
Having said that, when I have done any Motobrick painting in the past 4 years I always reach for my $15 Badger model 250 airbrush to do base coat and rattle cans for clear. Most recently I did the two color tri-coat paint job on Moby Brick Too with them and it came out very good. I run it off an old 10 gallon 3HP Sears Craftsman compressor.
The air brush puts down the base slowly enough that it's impossible to get runs or sags, and most important to me, it makes almost no significant overspray so the paint goes a LOT further. This is important to me when paint can cost 80 bucks a pint. The airbrush also gives excellent control when I need to do a small repair and only takes two or three minutes and a half ounce of solvent to clean.
I have found that professional rattle can clear coat has gotten a lot better the past couple years. The nozzles give atomization and pattern equal to good quality guns and don't need any cleanup when I am done. Perfect for someone as lazy as I am. I used the new 2K clear on Moby Too and it's even nicer than the 1K I had been using, By keeping it in the refrigerator between shooting sessions I can get a pot life of up to four days. The rattle cans waste a bit more product than the air brush, but nowhere near what a gun blows away in overspray.
As mentioned above, prep is 95% of the job. With good prep I can get excellent results with the cheap equipment I use.
