Commission 014’s shell went to bare metal this month, and as always the truth was a mixed bag: a genuinely straight roof, two suspiciously smooth quarter panels, and filler in places filler has no business being.

Why dry ice

Chemical dipping strips a shell evenly — including the seam sealer and factory marks you want to keep. Dry-ice blasting is slower and costs more, but it removes only what we ask it to, panel by panel, and leaves the metal cold and dry rather than primed for flash rust.

The quarters are being reskinned in steel. The roof stays. The filler is in a bin where it belongs.