The Garber staff carefully documents each restoration project with photography and data corresponding to each step of the process. Procedures like this have been described, along with historical background material, in a series of Museum publications, Famous Aircraft of the National Air and Space Museum . The restoration process involves cleaning the artifact, chemically treating its surfaces to remove and neutralize corrosion, and coating these surfaces for long-term protection. Parts that must be replaced or repaired are marked so future researchers will know they are not original. New paint schemes duplicate as closely as possible the configuration of the aircraft at a specific period during its life.
Every effort is made to restore the aircraft to a condition as close to original as possible.
Restoration of a metal aircraft takes much longer, typically as many as 9,000 hours.