Restoration: Flag pole removal from base?

Painters tape, exacto knife, toothpicks in no prescribed order to get the tape just right. If you take the flag stantion off is probably not a good idea

agree with John

I have drifted them off with some success BUT you need to know the techniques...and there is always a change of scratching the paint when re-peening them.

It seems that there is no "best" way to deal with the flagpoles: if one leaves them, then making sure that the paint is not distorted around them, or gets on them, is the problem. If removed, one might scratch the paint, or I assume break the star-patterned rivet bottom. I am trying to using masking fluid to coat the flagpoles, paint everything on the chassis black, then remove (with a toothpick and cotton swabs) the masking fluid. It seems to work out pretty well.