I'm spraying a seat cowl for my Fireblade which has two colours, a solid red covers most of the part and there is about an inch wide strip of metallic blue at one end of the cowl. I've primed and sprayed three coats of the red which has come out pretty well, though with a small amount of orange peel which I have already flatted out with 1200 grit wet and dry.

Now, I am wondering the best way to go for the metallic part:

1) Mask off and spray the metallic blue onto the flatted red, and then remove the masking and clearcoat the entire thing. Should give a minimal step where the metallic starts, and maybe provide more protection overall.
2) Mask, spray and clearcoat just the metallic part, and then cut/polish the red to get a gloss finish. I a bit concerned that this is going to leave a significant step in the paint though.
3) Some other way

Thoughts?

Even weeks of polishing the red, I don't think you're going to get anywhere near the polish of the clearcoat. I think it'll look odd, and make the step even more pronounced. It'll then wear down over time and lose the defined edge between red and blue.

Whenever I've watched bike customisation or restoration programmes they do all the artwork, pinstriping etc, then clearcoat the lot.

mask it paint is then a light flat and as you say plenty of clear coat with flatting in between to lose the feel of the edge