advise on re-painting an all-wooden airplane.

I own an all-wood homebuilt that needs a re-paint job. It's mostly
covered in plywood, but some small areas are fabric only. Fabric
covers all the wood also. The only way I can think of to prepare it
for re-painting is to sand the entire airplane down by hand, and spray
on a new coat of paint. I've talked to a few people that know that
type of construction, one was a mechanic at an approved Belanca repair
station. He said pulling the old fabric off the plywood is out of the
question, as it would probably splinter the plywood under it, taking
some of it with the fabric. I just wonder how deep to sand, as would
it be advisable to sand through all the old paint and primer, tyring
to get down to the fabric, or to just rough up the existing paint and
spray over it? Either way, I'm in for a lot of work. The plane has
1,700 hours on it, and the existing paint is too far gone to
rejuvinate, so a new coat is needed. Plus, the paint scheme needs
changing. If anyone out there has done this type of job, I'd like to
hear how it went.