How to spray paint something that is metal and rusted

Hey everyone, I'm back with another contest instructable. I want to show you guys how to build all certain kinds of cool things and just do some regular stuff as well. Anyways, let's move on to the challenge. 

Challenge: Spray paint the rusty metal sign in front of my mom's apartment building. 
I don't have much time to do this or a lot of tools/ money for. So  I improvise just a little. If you have all of those fancy sand blasters and sanders do the job that way. This is the way to do this on a budget and do it with little experience.

Now, let's move on!!

Step 1 Materials

Here is the list and the picture of the materials that you will need:

-metal scrubber (sos pads are the best I think)

-safety glasses

-a bucket

-2 towels ( 1 that will be wet and 1 that will be dry)

-spraypaint (color and amount of cans depends on the surface you will be painting. Also rustoleum and krylon are best)

-water

-a mask 

-something to hydrate yourself with

Comments

[Bimbler]

nice job and easy to follow

[dimtick]

i would recommend using a stiff wire bruss to get into all the grooves and really get off all the loose flaking paint. I've never used it for this but I would think a high pressure power washer would work well for this as well.
you should put a drop cloth down to catch all the paint flakes.

it looks like some of the detail elements are screwed on like the top scroll work and the flowers. it would be worth removing these so that you can be sure that you can really get into all areas.

with all the rust, you should use a rust neutralizing primer along with heavy duty rust preventing paint.