Personally for a scale model of an airplane where the full scale was aluminum I would go with glassing the surface. All it takes is covering the surface with 3/4 oz fiberglass cloth to seal the wood and then application of primer while sanding between coats of primer until it is as smooth as you want it. The main thing to success here is product selection. The cloth needs to be adhered to the surface with epoxy laminating resin. Since that kit uses some ABS plastic parts, the glass/epoxy will stick to those parts well and will keep the seam between wood an plastic invisible. For primer I like to use Klass Kote white primer with the quick dry hardener. Once primed and ready to paint, I use Duplicolor Lacquer that can be purchased in most auto parts stores. Lastly I spray a Urethane clear for fuelproofing. This is more expensive and time consuming then other methods however it will give great looking results that will last for years.