So far, so good! Spray paint is coming off well. Been helping it with a paint brush, and in very limited areas on the base, hook, and mast - some 0000 steel wool applied VERY lightly. Time is a bit of a problem, so about 1 hour on the mast with the Paper towel/plastic wrap, then helping it out a bit. Several areas on the mast have deep rust damage, so I'm considering some matt clear for protection. Most of the original gray on the base, hook, & jack mechanism survived except where I had to use the steel wool on rust. Couldn't find either of the grey colors suggested, so just made do with the closest match I could find. Had a brain fart and forgot to take pics in the before state, but will when I get done. Sorry 'bout that.
All that rust was apparently the reason I painted it all those years ago. At least now I know(?) I wasn't 'totally' nuts for doing it!