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?

Yes, you should sand before the clear coat.

I use 600 between coats to level the finish, and 1200 before and between clear coats.
You would only need to wet sand the final coat as prep before buffing and polishing. Wet sanding is not necessary between coats.
I like to get a good clear coat on, sand to 1200, apply decals, and clear coat again.
When the final clear coat is well-cured, I'll give it a brisk rub down with 3M Finesse-it and a soft cloth, mostly to remove the inevitable overspray.
HTH

I agree masking around Chrome lugs is a pain.
Is there some kind of Silicone product that could be applied to the Lugs and just pealed off after the paint sets?

There is a brushable paint mask solution, I think it is modified latex, I have seen it at true enthusiast hobby supply stores. I recall the name Mask-it.
If you look at what some of the pro bike painters use, it's tape, namely 3M fineline mask tape, terrible grey green color. Not a crepe tape. Automotive pro paint houses carry it.
I use that and scalpel blades, sharper than X-acto hobby blades. Also use a magnifying lens lamp ( showing my age with that)

That sounds like a well-refined procedure. Thanks for the detail!

First thread about this project, with "before" pictures

Second thread, with some updates and in-process pictures

New pics:

"Bike frames drying by an open fire...."


Post painting frame and fork pics:







Color is a bit off in these. The ligher blue is really close to Bianchi Celeste, which renders about right in these pictures, but what looks like dark blue in these pics is really closer to a dark aqua or dark teal.