About 15 years ago I made an effort to get into RC planes. I got a basic trainer kit, Airtronics vaguard 6, and a Royal .46 engine. I had a lot of trouble with the final finishing steps of building, particularly the covering, and the plane never made it off of the ground.

I crawled into the attic and retrieved the radio and the engine. The engine was absolutely perfect, showing no rust and still had a light coat of after run oil from when I test fired it. The radio was still in teh foam, although I used a couple of the servos in RC cars.

What I really want to do is build and fly warbirds, maybe even from scratch.

First of all, what's the best trainer kit to develop the most building skills. The local hobby shop is having a pretty big sale next week and has Goldberg Eagle2s and GreatPlanes PT40s, but if another kit would let me develop a better skill set I would go that route.

Second. Is there anything I should be weary of with the older engine and radio? Are new batteries a necessity?

Thanks,
Chris