I am about to paint my front bowtie and i am probably going to use 400 grit sandpaper to get the gold off, is that ok or is it not fine enough? Is there a way to not sand it and just use the paint? I have Duplicolor paint and clear coat.

 

you dont need to get the gold off. all you want to do is roughen up the surface a little, so the paint sticks. I'd reccomend 1000 grit so you dont get any deep scratches because that might show up when you paint. And when you paint it, make sure you do light coats. 4 light coats are better than 2 heavy ones.

EDIT: If you dont have fine grit sand paper, try it without it. If it turns out like crap, just bust out the paint cleaner/stripper and try again.