"Most popular" method is easy to answer. "Most desirable" is going to get you at least as many answers as the number of people you ask.
I just don't see the point of coving a profile fuselage with plastic covering. They're really easy to paint, so why not go that route? If you use Minwax Polycrylic as a base coat, then Rustoleum Gloss Protective Enamel on top of that, you can get a pretty nice finish. I've tried Minwax as a first coat followed by Minwax mixed with talc, and I've tried Minwax as a first coat followed by acrylic primer from Miller Paint (which is astonishingly way easy to sand, and also easy to see when you've sanded through). I haven't gotten any air miles on the plane with the acrylic primer, but if it doesn't all just fall off the plane I think it's a winner.
Rustoleum enamel smells a lot less than dope, and it comes in rattle cans. At some point I need to just buy a compressor and do the job right, but until then it's letting me get models in the air.