Some people swear by gluing paper to balsa, but for a small, delicate model like the OT this is going to be (1) difficult, (2) heavy, and (3) probably won't look that good.
Dope sanding sealer is still widely used. You can also experiment with tissuing. Dope the balsa, then sand smooth, to remove fuzzies and dirt. Then apply sheets of model airplane tissue, adhering with thinned dope. Apply one or two more light coats of thinned dope to fill the weave of the tissue, drying thoroughly and smoothing with very fine sandpaper between coats.
On a model as complex as the OT though, tissuing will require lots of time and patience. My personal recommendation would be to just use sanding sealer.
Oh almost forgot... another product worth trying is Elmer's Fill N Finish, it's a spackle-like product for filling holes in wood. Many people swear by thinned FNF (it's water based). I think for smaller models, dope sanding sealer is better though.