I'm not familiar with the Lanier 40 but in general I only cover the open bay parts with fabric and paint the plastic (or solid surface balsa) parts. When I got back in the hobby about six years ago, I built a Berkley Brigadier and covered it with silk because thats what I used to do. I had forgotten what a real pain it was. Since then I have used Sig Koveral on airplanes down to .10, size and Polyspan on the 1/2A stuff. Both products are heat shrinkable and much easier to use (not to mention much cheaper) than silk.