SO I need to know if this is accurate. If I bought a new hood and wanted to do all the painting myself I would
1. Prime, then sand
2. Base
3. Clear Coat

Seem right??

I'm not a pro painter but I have shot my entire car in primer, will finish and clear this summer. You're close.

1. Wash
2. Scuff (brown Scotch pad)
3. Wipe
4. Prime
5. Sand
6. Wipe/Wash
7. Finish
8. Sand
9. Clear
10. Buff

I'm not a professional either, but I've learned a lot in the past several months. I recently just started shooting House of Kolor products! It's actually a lot of fun. Anywho, You have the fundamentals correct. And as pointed out by the previous post, there are further details that you need as well. It depends on how the hood comes to you. It's already primered, then you just need to prep the surface and shoot away, let dry and shoot away again. If it's already painted a stock color, you should sand it to bare metal clean it and then prime it. If you don't already have an HVLP gun, you will definately need one. (Rattle cans never turn out show quality.) Use lots of compressed air to clean the surface, get that dust out.
As for the clear coat, if you don't have any expirence shooting clear, then practice a TON on crap laying around the garage. Because it's really easy to drip or run the clear coat. If you do it's no big deal, it's just a pain in the *** to fix. I guess most important of all is don't rush.