ORIGINAL: opjose
A first time pilot will not be able to trim his plane out during his first flight...
He may have the plane set up perfectly, as per the directions, only to discover that he is completely unable to control it at takeoff.
You do NOT want to be learning how to trim out an errant plane, WHILE you are beginning to learn how to fly RC craft.
You also need instruction on those things that you'll only pick up while out at the field.
I've seen many people say ( rightly ) here, "If you wish to go it alone, get a plane, build it, then stomp on it, you'll save yourself a lot of time and grief this way with the same end result."
Agree 100%. I maidened a Goldberg Hot Stik and, although I had carefully balanced it laterally and longitudinally and set the control surfaces to null it was badly enough out of trim that I was afraid to try trimming it in flight even at the low rates (which weren't low enough) as I was holding 1/4 aileron at low rate to keep her from rolling badly. Granted, a trainer doesn't have wild throws (unless an instruction manual was not followed - and that NEVER happens) but it can be fatal for a newbie (or oldbie) to release the sticks or look away from the model for a heartbeat. I brought it around (twice -one wave off) and landed it to do my trim follow ups.
Not being able to trim the model is what killed my first attempts at 4-channel powered R/C in the 1980's. No fun cartwheeling and rebuilding a model only to repeat it with a worse off and heavier model from repairs each time.