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I believe the better option would be to buy a spray can of gold. An airbrush would be the best option but its not a tool that’s easily accessible by everybody so out of the two options (spray can or handbrushing), a spray can would be the best way to go. Hand brushing takes alot of time and effort to make it as smooth and with the rg frames, it would take absolutely forever to have a nice finish whilst covering all the viewable areas.

The only problem with the spray can is that you are not really able to control the airflow so just be a bit careful not to soak your piece.

I would suggest that you paint all the areas of the frame that are going to be viewable. This means that you will have to paint the frame pieces extended and then come back later and manipulate the piece so as to be able to paint the rest of the viewable surface area. You might not be able to paint the entire piece but you’ll be able to get a good enough coverage that wont leave unsightly yellow gold after the armour has been put on top.

Here’s a link to a recent post I saw of an RG Strike Freedom. http://gundamguy.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/rg-1144-zgmf-x20a-strike-freedom-gundam.html
It’s airbrushed of course but may give you an idea of how it may turn out. Hope this helps and best of luck my friend.

I’m not sure about spray cans though simply because spray cans are lacquer paints and lacquer paints tend to be a bit more agrressive towards the plastic. Thin movable parts may become more brittle. Especially if you’re playing around with your kits a lot. In my opinion, these kits are not toys and shouldn’t be played with. Once posed like you want it to be it should stay that way for a while. But that’s just me. There are some people that like to play with their kits, more or less like they would with a toy. I’d say hand painting is a no with the frame simply because the layers would be thicker that they would be if you used an airbrush or even a spray can and some parts that go over the frame may rub against it and make it look worse than it looked before painting, with scratches and whatnot. Topcoating is out of the question for the frame because it adds more layers to already layered paint making the frame more thick and more prone to damage, may that be scratch or breaking. The safest way of doing this would be with an airbrush, using alclad2 gold paint. Being lacquer paints they go with the thinnest coat but should be kept in mind that lacquer paints “melt in” the plastic which can have the effect mentioned above, damage. so do be careful.