"If you're buying one, by a scruffy one in need of a paint job so you know what you're actually buying rather than seeing what someone has just painted over....."
Not a bad idea at all. Basically what I did although not intentionally.
I paint stripped the whole aircraft and treated all the surface corrosion myself. Got a professional painter to put on the finish.
Not for the faint hearted and I hope never to do that again. However doing the job right over 20 years ago has resulted in skins
that I thought would have to be replaced at some point continuing to serve today.
Anybody going down the "scruffy" route, needs to consider the cost of a respray (not cheap) repairs and engineering costs
e.g control surface balancing, certification.