The timeline is as follows, the V35 was delivered to us on March 21, 2008 repairs were completed by Mid June and around July1 delivered to USA Aircraft Refinishing to start the process. The team at USA quickly readies the V35 to lose its identity of the past 18 years. The process of removing all the paint looks like a giant Pepto Bismol bath, with its pink color we all have known over the years.

This process allows most of the paint to just slide off the airframe and allow for a clean metal surface ready for sanding and corrosion removal and repair. Because of the nature of how chemical stripper works all tires, windows and anything you don’t want stripped has to be covered for protection. The team at USA does a good job as they seem to be pushing over 25 planes through the facility on a monthly basis.

The process of removing the Interior has started on August 8, 2008 and as you can see from the photos it is quite a project. The Interior will be changing from Grey to light cream and tans to complement the new base color egg shell that will be applied to the aircraft in the coming week.  The side panels will be a combination of leather and fabric with the stitching to resemble a more modern aircraft.

The insulation will be updated so the inside will have the same sound dampening qualities present in models manufactured in 2006 and newer.

In the bottom picture the plastic is being replaced and color changed to again reflect the new look and feel associated with newer high performance singles. The passenger door and baggage door will have all rubber seals removed and new seals will be applied once the interior metal surfaces have been sanded and painted.