I have the Superstar 40 and have been flying it since August of this year. This is a great plane to start off with and the quality of the plane is excellent.
I put an O.S .46FX in mine and it has more power than it needs, I usually fly around at about 1/2 throttle or just a little higher.

The only thing that I can gripe about and suggest to you, is to replace the landing gear once you solo. The wire gear that comes on the plane will give you problems and you will constantly have to keep bending the gear back to keep the fuse level. They design it this way to compensate for hard landings that beginers like us are known for. You will see what Im talking about when you start trying to land and your plane bounces off the runway because of the gear.
You can replace it with the Great Planes .40 size dural landing gear. If you use nylon bolts to attach it to the fuse it will break away on very hard landings. It works great, trust me I know because I have busted off my gear many times. I have seen no other damage to the plane when the gear breaks free.
I would suggest though that you solo first and have some landings under your belt before doing the gear.

You could also replace the front and rear wheels with Great planes 3" wheels.
They provide a more stable takeoff and landing over the foam wheels that come with the plane.
Other than that I cant think of anything else I would change to start with.

As just added extras I have added a 16oz tank with hatch to my superstar, The plane will stay in the air safely for about 22 minutes if I want it to. I usually fly for about 15 min though because as you get closer to the 22 min mark you are looking at a possible dead stick depending on how you use the throttle in the flight. Before I would get about 10 minutes or so.

There is a lot to learn so keep reading, you and your dad have picked a great plane to start on, I cant see any reason why you guys would have any problems. Well other than the fact that you have to wait until Christmas...lol


Good luck

Dbow