Seattle, Just as you are learning to fly, you need to learn how to build.

There's no point in building your first warbird just to have it come out looking like it's been through a war!

There are many little things you'll need to learn first-hand... WAY too many for us to try to list here.

So the best thing to do is to start building your second plane, that way you will get TONS of experience before tackling your "Baby".

Some planes that make an excellent "Second plane - First build" are:

Goldberg Tiger
Sig 4*
Great Planes Rapture

And BTW, as for your first Warbird, take a look at the Great Planes P-51D Mustang:

http://www.greatplanes.com/airplanes/gpma0175.html

It's a good build, and a great flier. And if you build the "Rapture" as your first build, you'll alreadt be familliar with many of GP's building techniques.