Tips for Caulking Around Brick?

I purchased an old brick house that has all older windows. While the windows are on my list to be replaced in the next year or so I want to remove some old cracked (and sloppy) caulking and recaulk the windows before the winter. In my experience I have found it very difficult to do a nice caulk job against brick and was wondering if anyone had any tips? At the same time I also plan to repaint the lintels - I was wondering if anyone had any good products to recommend that will strip existing paint/rust and get them ready for repainting. Thanks.

I do not know about stripping but heavey rust primer by rustolum works great.

Caulking is practice makes perfect. Use a good quality and then tool lightly.

Practice does make perfect.

Rust prep a good enamel will do the trick.

if you can find a color of Vulcem that matches the brick and not the window it tends to look cleaner. Vulcem also is grainy and not real shiny like some of the other brands such as OSI. I try not to tool the caulk as well.