Thanks for the good reviews chaps. (And thanks to Jono and Oakley_Sight for the pre-project tips.)
The end result is a solid-looking gold with matte finish. The lens is Oakley's "Dark Bronze". The light on the kitchen worktop makes the frame look like a gold-fade effect in the pics, but I'm not that good an artist! It is actually a solid colour right around the frame.
The process -
1) I used a 220 grade wet&dry pad to veeerrry lightly prepare the frame. Interestingly, the icon very easily wiped to its original chrome finish - the white paint on it was really thin. 2) For a base coat I used a Tamiya gold polycarbonate spray paint. I used this as it has a matte finish for the next coat to stick to, and polycarb paint is more flexible than other model paints. 3) For the main colour, I used a Plasti-Kote metallic gold spray paint. This looked absolutely awesome - but I knew the effect would end up duller when I had to put the clear lacquer on to seal the paint on (otherwise it would smudge, rub off or be susceptible to finger marks). 4) I figured the clear lacquer also needed to be polycarbonate paint, to seal the metallic between two flexible paint coats. Problem is that I couldn't find any Gloss Clear in polycarb - so I had to use Flat Clear. This worked well as a seal, but took away the fierce metallic finish, so I was a bit disappointed at that.
I might just keep the GOLDjinx as a display piece. But then, I am not a display kinda guy - so maybe not! I'm quite keen to do a CHROMEjinx project now, so perhaps I'll end up stripping this frame back to white, or just buying another Hijinx frame for that - I don't know.
As jono told me, patience is the key. Do not over-spray, as the paint will run. And leave plenty of time between coats.
I also set up a simple makeshift rig in my garage for the spraying, which held the frame airborne by a thread at the nose bridge, for ease of all-round spray access.
if i ever figure out how to maintain the metallic shiny finish, i'll definitely let you know dude. =) it's a problem i still haven't cracked yet. damn!