Wow, it's hard to draw any conclusions about covering and finishing anymore. Silkspan and Brodak dope are still very popular. This is a great product, with the usual limits of dope as far as odor, drying time, and shrinking are concerned. But boy, does a good dope finish look good! There is also a covering called PolySpan that is a sort of iron-on silkspan (or you can dope it on.) It is much stronger than silkspan, but a little harder to work with. I use it quite a bit.

Ultrakote and Monokote are popular. A lot of folks (including me) paint the fuselage and cover the wing and stab with ****kote of some kind. I often use spray can Rustoleum for this type finish. Quick, cheap, and can look very good.

I use a lot of carbon fiber veil as a base on solid wood instead of silkspan. With dope, it makes a tremendously stable base for paint.

Then auto paint is pretty popular. A zillion colors, quick drying, excellent finish. The primer is great, too. Some guys use the spray can touch-up paint called DupliColor. Seems OK. I've only used it a little.

Over at Stuka Stunt Works forum, there is a ton of info on all of these. More than I can ever repeat quickly. How's that for a quick survey?

Oh, and here's a pretty nice collection of photos:
http://community.webshots.com/user/inferalanding