Molded cables in cockpits/flight decks

i dry brush them and pick out details like clips, gland, junction boxes etc with paint on the end of a wire if its too small for my finest brush...also i tend to check whether or not it will be visible when the models finished- i've been caught by that a few times!

I often paint very small details like knobs, switches, and wiring with a toothpick. It makes a very small brush.  I shake a bottle of paint, remove the cap and set the cap down upside down on benchtop.  A thin film of paint will stick to the liner of the top. I then take a toothpick and stick one of the points down into that film- A tiny drop will stick to the end. I then daub it on the detail area I am trying to paint and a small spot goes onto the detail.  I then repeat as needed.  You can draw the toothpick along like a brush, but not very far, because of the limited amount on the tip, so you have to dip the pick into the cap/lid far more often than with normal brush painting but you can get the tiniest spots and thin lines of paint on raised detail with this method.

I use those double ended toothpicks with the very sharpest tips.

For me, it's just a steady hand and practice; somtimes I also sand them off and replace them with real wire