I agree with Pete about being to far away. 6 inches generally works. You want the paint to have a sort of wet look as it’s applied. Best to give it a couple of thin coats when working this close. Otherwise your likely to have runs. With a 50/50 mix. 18 to 20 psi would be a good starting point. It tough to give advice on these things as everyone’s equipment is different. As mentioned. It’s good to practice on a donor if your working with a paint your not familiar with.
The last thing I painted was with True Color. I’ve only used their paint a few times. Was painting 2 Borden’s tanks for a Flatcar. I used it to get the correct color. The red came out much as you described. As did their own clear gloss I put over it. I somewhat followed the correct procedure I found on line. I had to decal over it and needed a smooth surface. I ended up wet sanding with some superfine rubbery sanding pads from Micromark. Luckily there were no sharp edges to work around. It took the roughness right out. I believe it’s called orange peel in the auto industry. Once weathered no one will notice. The tooth on the clear will also give the chalk or powders if your using them something to grab onto.
