Originally Posted by alathIN

Will post some pics later.

Got the frame stripped, primed, sanded and painted.
Wow, masking around lugs is not easy. Had to do a lot of brush touch up but it looks pretty good now.
Very happy with the color scheme.

Got a bunch of retro Raleigh decals. Not the actual ones that really go on this bike; I just mix-and-matched the stuff that looked late 60s-early-70s and would fit with my paint scheme.

Gave up on the original Sturmey-Archer rear rim. Tons of rust pitting, bad patches on the braking surface, and after heroic efforts still badly out of true both laterally and radially. But I found a NOS Schurmann (Germany) 24 x 1 3/8 rim for $20 on eBay that looks brand new. Deciding factor was on Sheldon Browns website "If you're a wheel building newbie, it's a lot easier to build a new wheel with new parts than fix a bad wheel."

Next question: to optimize a rattle can paint job, do I wet sand before clear coating?