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After the Naval Jelly, etc., treatment, I doubt the rust will come back any time soon, if you keep it in a dry place. Using the set from time to time will warm it and keep things dried out, too.
About 10 years ago, I used Naval Jelly to remove rust from scuffs & bleeding pinholes on the painted faceplate of my Hallicrafters SX-42. No signs of rust reappearing. The radio spends most of its time in our indoor storeroom, the proverbial cool, dry place.
If you decide to paint it, I'd make sure the cleaned metal is clean, clean, clean, as in rinsed with lacquer thinner, denatured alchohol, or suchlike. A thin coat of primer before the paint is a good idea, too.
Re Bakelite, I don't think polishes will penetrate it. I have used harsh stripper to remove factory paint from Bakelite, and it didn't penetrate (or damage) the original surface a bit. In a couple of cases, the stripped Bakelite looked so great that I left it bare rather than repaint in the original color.
If you like the look of the wax, that's not a bad solution. It may hold up for quite a while, although it's a semi-permanent coating, like polishes. People who are really hooked on giving Bakelite a deep, glossy luster have applied multiple coats of hand-rubbed lacquer, just as with a wooden cabinet. I don't go for that because Bakelite things were bare when they left the factory, not coated with polish, lacquer, or anything else. My NIB Radio Receptor UHF converter has an original Bakelite finish that shines like the sun, and it is bare.
Nice job on this set, by the way.
Phil
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