How do you paint a round surface?

[john3m]

what method do you use to paint a round or similar part that turns out to be a similar shape. Like a ping-pong-ball. How do you hold it and what do you do to avoid paint lines. say the part needs to be the same color all around. I know this may be a dumb question but still learning.   
my second question is i have some trouble when using silver acrylic paint. I know it should be thinned but I always seem to have trouble with this color. either airbrushing or brush I use both. when i say hold it do yo use a sticky material on a stick? 

[armornutii]

   One might take alittle tacky putty or folded tape, put it on the round shape and a stick or old sprue, spray . Let dry while working elsewhere then reposition the holder and cover the bare area.

[tcoat]

Not round but is the same thing I would do if it was.
Just glue a piece of sprue onto a point where it won't be see once assembled and nip it off when the paint is dry. Nice and secure so won't pop off mid painting.

Don't thin silver if brushing. The trick is to get a coat on with one stroke of the brush. Don't go over it more than needed. It does take practice but will come. For airbrushing a nice gloss coat of black first will help.

[eaglecash867]

I usually chop one tip of a toothpick off at a point that gives it some surface area without being larger than the part I want to paint.  Then I use a hot glue gun to stick the part to a the dulled end of that toothpick in a spot that won't show when it's installed on the model.  To hold the part while the paint dries, I just stick the sharp end of the toothpick into the side of a cheap roll of masking tape (kinda like a dart board).

[joelw]

What I do with any parts is attach a toothpick to the side that won't be visible once painted. Most of the time I just drill a small hole that will snuggly hold the toothpick. If there's enough room then a small pc of Blu-tac will work just fine.

For any metallic paint I always apply a basecoat of Black 1st that will give the paint something to bite into. When applying paint. Then lite coats. Give each coat time to dry before the next one especially when using a brush or you'll just remove the previous layer.

joel

[Medicman71]

Like a lot of other, I use a toothpick on a part where there's a hole or an attachment point that won't be seen.