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You can't just paint the balsa. It needs to either be glassed or covered in fabric first.
For your first finish job, I'd suggest you use Ultracote or Monocote. The process is relatively simple, there is only one step, and if need be, you can redo a section fairly easily.
Weight is not really going to be a big issue with any of the 3 techniques, if it's done properly.
Glassing can be messy, and very time consuming. It took me longer to do a set of floats with glass and paint than it takes me to cover a trainer.
I have also gone the fabric and dope method, and it was time consuming as well. It took me at least 4 times as long to cover with the fabric and dope as it would have to use an iron on film. The finish came out very rugged and solid, but I recently crashed the Cub, and the repair will take at least 12 hours of work to do, and 11 of it is patching the covering. With an iron on film, it would take a couple hours tops to fix.
Sig has Koverall available, which is the fabric, it has fairly good instructions on the process.
I think West Systems explains how to finish a plane in fiberglass (I'm not 100% sure about that though)
Both Ultrakote and Monokote have good instructions on their use.
Just a couple thoughts for you to mull over, I don't think I'm exagerating at all. I am a fan of all three methods, and I actually have 3 planes on the go ATM, and each of them are getting finished in a different way. I dread the plastic the least, while I hate it the most!
Good luck
Mike
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