Sand, sand and more sanding!
Safety first - wear a respirator! Who knows what kind of crap is in the paint - and also you don't want fine metal particles in your lungs (never a good thing):
I used a power sander with 300 grit sandpaper. Start coarse - this thing has like 3 layers of primer on it! After about 10 hours of sanding:
PLEASE NOTE: I SANDED OUTSIDE - it causes a LOT of dust which may or may not be toxic
Next is primer - I used rustoleum clean metal primer (made for metals). I chose white over grey because I am going to paint it orange (a light color).
note: the black spot you see is dirt on camera lens.. sorry!