Painting valve covers

Well, the hammer finish is a pain in the ***. I stripped old rust off the covers and scuffed the chrome until it wasn't shiny anymore. Then I used etch primer. I sprayed a light coat of hammer, let it dry 15 minutes and then came back with a heavier 2nd coat. What I have now is a semi-gloss silver with no hammer marks and looks like I don't know how to paint. <sigh> So I got on the web and people say to NOT use a primer and do one light tack coat then one HEAVY coat and it will fish eye like it is supposed to.