After my ARF trainer I build my first kit.

Go ahead and build one covering is not difficult, here is what I did for my first kit/covering and came out good. I was also afraid of covering, see MinnFlyer's article on how to cover and will help a lot.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_11...tm.htm#1120607

You don't need to practice covering in my opinion, but I used a scrap balsa sheet and played with it for a while with covering and iron.

Only think to be carful is heat gun, you can remove wrinkles very easy with it but there is a certain amount that you can remove after a while you can easily put a hole in the covering. Done that on my first wing and learned.

First kit is a great way to learn.