Mike,
Lots of good suggestions and I’m sure they will all work, what I’ve been doing is using Glass-Coat clear onto the bear balsa and wiping it off as much as possible with paper towels. When the paint cures sand with 220 grit sandpaper, then apply a second coat Glass-coat again wipe off with paper towels. When cured, sand again the 220 and you will notice that the grain is filling really fast, now you can use silkspan, Glass Cloth, or some primer to finish it off.
I’ve used the Z proxy before and it didn’t penetrate into the balsa as well as the Glass-coat epoxy paint did, consequently making the balsa much stronger for close to the same weight.
To paint the colors is a breeze, you can use anything you like that is fuel proof, dope, epoxy, don’t use any thing with enamel is it. I’ve used this same precess on carrier and racing models and it works great.
Later,
Mikey