No I'm more interested in getting it flying again. I just need to figure out the silk, cloth or whatever it is.
Was it covered with something that looks like cloth, or something that looks like paper? Do you want to cover it with the same stuff, or just get it back into the air in flyable condition?
If you just want to get it into the air, get some 'coat -- Monocoat, Ultracoat, Towercoat, Bob's Really Good Hobby Shop Coat, whatever. Just make sure it's reasonably fuel proof (in these days of electrics there's an ever-increasing number of brands that aren't). Slap it on (you can do really good work with 'coat if you try, so don't think it
has to be a wrinkled-up horror).
If it looks like cloth it's silk. You can either get model silk, which costs $omigawd/yard and is hard to find, or you can silk from Dharma Trading (it's on the web, I'd have to search for it by name, so you can, too). You want the 8MM stuff (MM is
not millimeters -- it's some market-specific measure). 5MM is lighter, but folks who've used it report that it takes more dope to fill. Figure on $5 or so for enough to do the plane, plus shipping.
If it looks like paper it's silkspan. I don't know where to get silkspan these days, so you'll have to ask. I hear people say they found some, I hear people complain they can't find it. I dunno -- I have a stash of it, and I have some Polyspan (the plastic equivalent), so I'm OK for now. You might try EasyBuilt models, and Sig, or ask on the finishing forum.
For either silk or silkspan you have to know how to cover the model. Basically you get the model prepped, the final prep being two or three coats of clean on the wood, then you apply
damp silk/silkspan to the framework and stick it down with dope. It'll dry fairly taught, at which point you paint it with dope (some use taughtening dope for the first coat or two, some don't) until it's sealed, then finish the finish. It's a long involved process to do it right, and I wouldn't recommend it for someone who still needs lots of air time.
(You can do a quickie job with silkspan that rivals the speed of a 'coat job -- but probably won't look as good, and it smells up the house more. Your choice.)