Kahn, I agree with everything that Evil is trying to say regarding most of the higher end kits offered by the non-mass produced companies.

The reason I would suggest a Top Flite for the first big build is that their Instruction booklet/photo's are top notch. and come with a ton of hardware. Most guys that build these other kits have built Top flite in the past. You learn so so much during these builds (sequence, techniques, required tools, understanding the plans, and developing a method that you are comfortable with in the different tasks) Once you completed and couple of planes with full plans and instructions you could then easily jump into a "non instruction" type build. You can almost use some of the top flite manuals as a sequence guide or reference. The problem is the lack of sequence on many kits. You need to think of it as very similar to scratch building with a little help. Some of these kits have some instruction but they leave very much for the builder to already know or apply.

It would be a great challenge for most to build one of these "other" kits with no prior and might become a bit discouraging for many.

The upside is sites like this and RCSB are great recources for help and there are plenty of guys that would be interested in your project and be willing to help.

IMO Good luck
Tripp