I think it's a pretty good trainer...I had one as my first plane... still have half the wing and the fuselage(a tree came out of nowhere, jumped up and grabbed it!)... the impact snapped the spar in one wing. I then moved on to an LT40 when my LHS couldn't get Goldberg stuff(still can't or won't). I built mine just like the manual says to...had an OSLA46 on it. It flew well, but then again I'm at sea level! If I could put it together as a first plane, you should have no trouble with your kit background!