RE: Is This Common?
First, I'd suggest something other than an Eagle II for 1st plane, especially with a .60 in it. I had two of these on .40's and had mastered take-offs and flying around just fine, but still working on landings. It takes awhile, it did for me anyway. Part way through this I heard of the Lazy Bee. I built one and first time out to the field had a hard time getting anyone to take it up for its first flight (because it was so different from what everyone was used to). A very capable buddy finally took it up for me and handed me the controls after ~1 minute. I landed it about 2 minutes later. I could easily fly solo with the Lazy Bee that day, before I had landed my Eagle II for the first time. My point is, if you train on a Lazy Bee instead of an Eagle you'll be flying solo very quickly and will not have to go through the waiting. After you've mastered the Lazy Bee you can step up to the Eagle.
Another learning tool I highly recommend is a flight sim such as RealFlight. I have every confidence that you could fly solo first time out if you got capable on the sim first. They're very realistic. Especially good when you don't have a local club to support your learning. It really speeds up the learning curve because you can do a little every evening. I wish we had them back when I got into this hobby.