@Sed ... you may not know this about me but I have an aversion to blue lightsaber blades
That's why I jabbed you when D7 gave a you a hard time
. I'm into the greens, reds and ambers
@JC ... I used a dremel for everything. Initially I was going to use various grits of sand paper, but because the gold was in such tight spots I would've bruised the areas around it pretty bad. They just don't make sandpaper small enough for this.
So I used a much more invasive method and used a small cutting wheel meant for cutting/grinding through metal. But on an angle with a light grazing pressure it skimmed the gold off, and I was able to articulate into the very tight curves.
The wheel ended up leaving a bunch of micro ridges impossible to avoid because of how hard the wheel was, which is what you can see in the pics. That and that gold was really on there.
I then used a steel brush wheel, then a brass one, and finally a bristle brush to bring the surface to a smooth touch. The only real threat is letting the tool run away on you and scarring the parts you want left untouched.
It's certainly doable and maybe to greater effect if you can get at the work area with fine grit sandpaper to really smooth out the finish. 80-120 grit sandpaper will eat away anodizing really fast too.
