I just remembered a guy who suddenly showed up at our field with an Eagle 2 kit that he built himself without any help or advice. He did a great job except for not knowing about a heating iron to shrink the covering. It flew well and he learned on that.

I think the best 2 stroke engine for beginners is either the Evolution .45 training power system of the .46NT. They are both very powerful engines that are forgiving and don't load up the crankcases. They have great prices and are quality made. Hard chrome liners. You can have these engines way out of tune and they still run well without deadsticks. The .45 is powerful with the counter weight removed and with an APC 11x7 prop.

I don't know about taking all dihedral out of a Clark Y type of flat bottomed airfoil. I can see where a lot of them have excessive dihedral, but a little bit will always be needed for that airfoil on a trainer.