I used anything on hand to provide a stable support for anything I was painting. Two 4'x8' long old sliding closet doors (arranged like saw horses) made a great stand and allowed all 4 fenders to be painted at the same time (2 on one side, 2 on the other) as the trunk, hood and doors on other stands. I thought it was better to have the panels somewhat on edge, rather than lying flat, since I'm not that good at painting, and it's easier to have runs or paint too thick when the panels are flat. You don't have to think about anything falling off the air hose, or hitting the panel with the air hose, when the panel is not lying flat. I've heard you risk having different batches of the same paint produce slightly different colors, so it's not a bad idea to paint as many adjacent parts as possible, at the same time/mix. -Of course, it's hard to create enough stands and have enough room to paint everything at once. I had no serious dust issues on the plastic tarps I used -I painted in my garage with the door open and a large exhaust fan in the rear pulling air thru the garage. (But I did have one large bug do his death march across fresh clear-coat.) Pay attention to the details in the sheets that came with your paint regarding time between coats etc. and don't forget personal protection. I found it better to cover my arms completely (even tho it was very hot) because after a few days of using lacquer thinner to clean paint off, my arms were not happy. Clear-coat is by far more difficult than color as it gets everywhere and you can't see it, but everything gets sticky.
In retrospect, I liked the painting portion of the restoration, and I'd never used an air sprayer/HLVP gun before. I do remember having a bit of trouble with the left front fender... I think I sanded and repainted it (with color) more than a few times. Be sure to not mix different manufactures products.