I would recommend a sport kit for your first build. Scale kits are a bit more difficult to build. I think that is why you see so many darn Cubs. It is scale, but a fairly easy to build scale model.

I just built a Goldberg Chipmunk a few months ago. I certainly got the impression that it was a beginners kit. It isn't completely scale. The sides are flat and so is the belly. There is a rounded turtle deck on top and the over all effect is presentable without being a pain in the neck to build. A kit like that is very rewarding to build without demanding too much from your first experience.

I must admit I have been at this hobby for a long time and I have my own collection of kits. I'm really not that familiar with most of the kits on the market now. But names like Goldberg and Sig have been around for ever and their reputations are sterling.

Someone posted a link to Joe Bridi kits. I for one, am thrilled they are still in production. Those kits were the power flyers of the late 70's and into the 80's. The Kaos is a legend, and yet simple and easy to build. It has the proportions of a pattern ship and that is pretty much how it flys. That would be a great first kit. Simple and straight forward, and yet a great plane to fly and an old school legend to boot. I'll stop there.