For a first attempt, use butyrate dope, I use Brodak.
What I do is sand all bare wood smooth with either 220 or 320. Then I apply one coat of Brodak clear to the wood, thinned somewhere around 50/50. After the first coat of clear is dry, the wood should feel rough to the touch, that is because the clear swelled the wood. I "knock the fuzz off" with 320 (this makes the wood smooth again) and then I apply a second coat of clear. Again the wood should again feel rough to the touch. The wood swelled with the second coat of clear, but less than the first. Once again knock the fuzz off with 320. Keep doing this until the wood is smooth after applying the clear without sanding. This gives you a good base and will your finish will become light.
Next dampen the silkspan. Cut the silkspan bigger than you need to. What I do to wet the silkspan is lay it on a towel, and spray it with water until it is good and wet. Then i take the other half of the towel and dry it out with it. Now the silkspan is damp. Lay the silkspan on the wood that you are attaching it to. If the wood is a solid surface, brush on clear from the middle out, as it will help to somewhat prevent wrinkles. Make sure you get clear on ALL the silkspan. After the silkspan is on the wood, I take a paper towel, and gently rub it down to get rid of the wrinkles. Now if you are attaching the silkspan on an open bay area, go along the perimeter of the wood, don't go into the open bays.
When the silkspan is dry, you can start to build up your substrate with clear. I typically go up to 6-7 coats of clear before I spray on a coat of auto primer, then sand it down, since auto primer is very heavy. I typically put on 2 coats of primer, before color. Now for my Oriental Plus, I think I"m going to spray Silver as my primer because I'm planning to use coolors that don't cover very well (white, and red. Yellows and oranges also don't cover very well.).
Hope this helps you out and good luck