Painting is all about the prep, same as the chroming process. You have to be patient when prepping anything for finishing and get it as good as you possibly can before applying a final coat. As far as painting goes, you can always work on blemishes and repaint until you're happy with the result, but once chromed it'll be that way unless you have it re-chromed again. Of course, that also depends on how much prep work the chrome shop will do for you and how meticulous they'll be. I say keep at it, I think you'll get it figured out given some time!