I'm done with sanding/wet sanding by hand! Any alternatives?

Ohms,

What Brandon meant was that you don't want to sand the peak where the surfaces of the body panel come together.  That peak has the least amount of paint on it and you will sand (burn) through the paint a lot quicker than the flats of the panels.  It's a thin enough line that your brain will trick itself into not seeing a difference in the shine.  As others have said a smooth foundation makes a smooth paint job that much easier.  Sand the body smooth to get rid of the mold separation lines.  Sand the primer smooth.  Apply the color coats.  My base usually consists of 4-6 mist coats to get full coverage with about a 10-15 minute wait between each coat (shot from about 12-18 inches away from the body).  Then a couple of medium wet coats shot from about 10-12 inches away from the body, usually about 15-20 minutes between coats. Then a couple of wet coats shot from about 8-10 inches away from the body, with about 20-30 minutes between coats.  I rarely use a clear coat because the cars I tend to build never had them.  I then set the body aside for a week or two to let the paint cure.  This is using Tamiya spray lacquers from the can.  In the old days of using enamels, a body could take 30 days to properly cure.  Make sure you paint the hood with the body, especially if you're painting it white (ask me how I know this).  Also look for any molded in underbody reinforcements or places that have been thinned out so you can cut a hole in it (usually the hood).  These can create a slight depression which you may not catch until you've shot your body color and they create a ghost image in the paint. They can be found by sanding the body before you primer it (the low areas wil still be shiny so sand until they are gone).  If the bonnet or boot is removable, pay attention to the edges.  The molds, depending on how much use they've received, may have a slight curve at the edges resulting in a peak being formed that you may not find until you've burned through the color coat there.  Sanding the parts before painting should catch this.  I never wet sanded a body, only dry sanded.  I would cut the sand paper into small strips about a 1/2-3/4 of an inch wide and maybe a couple inches long and would get maybe a panel out of a strip before having to cut a new one.  Regardless, watch your sand paper.  If the grit is starting to get clogged, either rinse it out or get a new piece.  As others have said, it takes at least a couple of hours to properly and carefully rub out a paint job.  And as with everything, practice, practice, practice.

BrandonK

It is rare when you can lay down a finish with no peel in it.  

Wow! That gives me a lot of hope. If I have to take longer knowing I'm not the only one dealing with OP, then so be it. 

@lewbud

Thank you so much. I feel like this is a post I'll be referring to years from now. 

When you speak about mist coats/medium wet coats/wet coats, are you only changing the distance of the airbrush from the body, or are you also changing the dilution of the paint with the thinner?

Ohms,

I primarily use Tamiya rattle cans, so I don't worry about paint composition.  The distances are for spray cans, but can be adapted to airbrushes.  You'd just have to experiment and find the distances for your airbrush.  I use distance to control the amount of paint that goes on the model.

lewbud's method is spot on. Now it's just a matter of getting used to doing that with your airbrush. My apologies, I got frustrated with these pop up ads the other day and didn't go into detail. I would sometimes thin color coats more as I went along but not always and only with solid colors. You don't want to do that with metallics. I did always do it with clear. But, I was also using lacquers almost exclusively. And normally used clear fingernail polish for my clear coats. It's a tough, hard finish that doesn't yellow, sprays very well and was readily available. There are a lot more products on the market today than 10 year ago but, at least in the US, almost any drugstore, supermarket or retail store sells fingernail polish. You can get some pretty nice colors too. :-)  Just thin it with lacquer thinner. I have seen some people say they used a fingernail polish that didn't work with lacquer thinner but it never happened to me. 

You definitely need to thin your Tamiya paints. Try to use 15-20 psi for air pressure. A little more if you need it. Remember you're using an airbrush and not an aerosol. You have much more control. You can slow down and get closer. BUT, you're painting a car body so you're still going to need to put out some paint. Light mist coats are what you start with but you need to progress to wet coats. That's what allows the paint to flow and level out. Too dry or too thick and it won't. Too thin or too heavy and it will run or sag. It's something you just have to do and get experience with. It takes time. Don't get discouraged. You can do it!

 Another biggie to keep in mind when spraying with a can or AB is to always start before your subject and end your pass after the subject and keep it moving. Don't change directions while on the subject either. This is especially true of  colors that contain flake or camillian affects. And like Lewbud stated, try to paint with all the parts in place as it will have an affect in the look when it's done. Your best to start off with a kit or two that you are not super stoked about so you can afford to make mistakes and experiment some. Then when you get a feel for what you're doing you can then transition to a kit you really want to look good. 

All the stuff everyone has mentioned here applies to this hobby. Above all, practice and patience is key. Good luck.

BK

plasticjunkie

I shoot my gloss enamel  paint and set it aside to cure for 5-7 days then use a soft old cotton t shirt and Novus#2 to polish the paint that produces a glass smooth finish. This method will also work  on a car finish. 

I tried your suggestion first because it was the easiest and I'm pretty happy, surprised and impressed with the results! All you do is rub the course compound with a "not-too-smooth" cloth and you can actually see (and feel) the orange peel fade away. I should've taken a pic of the model before I started to show you what it looked like with the orange peel. This is a huge difference.

Here's the body after the course/fine/wax applications. This is pretty good compared to what I've done before. It's not as good from all angles (I am using some photo-trickery), but for the easiness of the method, I can't fault the payoff.

Without sounding ungrateful and full of self-pity, it's still a long way off the manufacturer's results.

Sometimes I wonder though about the official pics. Look at this tiny sign on the side of the body. On the manufacturer's pic, you can clearly read it as Hertz. I've taken a pic of what I got in the box. Couldn't get a closer pic with my phone but it's pretty close to what you see. There's a big difference. Do these pro modelers use a pin or something to etch out the words again? Or maybe print a sticker to go on top of it? Puzzling.