On my last few restorations, I noticed something. I live in a very dry area (were right off the Mojave Desert), and rust is almost never a problem in games I pick up locally. However I have noticed that the dust I am finding on parts in games has eaten into the finish to the point that it looks like corrosion. Case in point: a roll tilt assembly out of a Firepower I'm working on:

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This is the top view. Ive wiped all the loose dust off the part, but the remaining dust has eaten into the plating, and stained the metal. I am going to have to either repaint the part, or buff it out. Has anyone else found a way to deal with corrosive dust besides re-painting/re-plating the part?

Why does dust do this?

I'm pretty sure its not salt.

I'm pretty sure it is the dust. The plating looks new on the bottom sides of the parts. I noticed this issue on my TAF restoration, and now its showing up in my FP.

This makes sense. It's well known the dust around here contains metals.