agexpert,
I have recovered more ARF's than I care to count, both for myself and for others. Sometimes it's a really good thing to recover and ARF, especially one with a lot of flight time on it, because you can discover and repair any damage to the structure of the plane. As for the wing tips, use a hobby knife and cut the tape holding them on and pull them off. My advice would be to go ahead and recover it. I'll tell you this much, it's amazing how much a new covering job can do to revitalize interest in an older plane. A lot of times you'll think of it like a brand new plane.

Hope this helps

Ken