Well, I thought I would give everyone an update on how the Red Mini is holding up...
E-P-I-C F-A-I-L!!!!It seems as though the little voice in my head was right. This cooker has had 3 cooks on it, and as you can see, the paint on the hotter bowl area is trashed from the heat.
It's been relatively cool here with highs in the lower single digits, so all of the cooks on it have been done with the bottom damper fully open, creating LOTS of heat in the lower bowl area.
I can tell you that all was not lost. This is a great little cooker. Last weekend we were grilling steaks for a family member's birthday, and my wife goes, "Will you P-L-E-A-S-E make us one of those yummy smoked chickens in your little red smoker???"
It was a fun project, and is a great cooker. I may gift it to a family member over the holidays to spread the grill-fella love. This paint holds up well to physical abuse, but just cannot handle the heat, so I would not recommend painting the bowl with this (VHT Caliper) paint.