I was painting the Corsair from our Group Build and decided to do this "how-to" for painting glossy finishes.
Many years ago I painted by putting my subject on a stand, placing it on a table or holding it, and spraying away. Sometimes I'd get little bits of dust in the finish unless I was extremely careful and clean. A neighbor was visiting one day when I was preparing to paint a 1/24th scale auto body and he invited me to his hangar. Inside was a full-scale Piper Cub hanging upside down from the roof of his hangar.
He explained that he painted everything upside down so no dirt ever got into his paint. He used gravity to help him keep his surfaces clean.
It's quite a feat to flip over a 1/1 scale airplane but the results were worth it--several paint jobs he applied won awards at aircraft shows, including a Best Of Show at Oshkosh one year. Ever since that day I paint "upside-down". I just make a stand out of safety wire that will hold the model. The rest is pretty self-explanatory.
Some modeling techniques
Some modeling techniques
I also hang the finished product upside down until the paint has cured a bit. I'd rather have any dust settle on the underside during the curing process.
Some modeling techniques
And the finished product:
Some modeling techniques