RE: Building from plans
Skill level?
You have to have some basic idea of how an airplane is built because alot of plans don't tell you basics like servo mounting, linkage hookup, routing wiring through a wing, mounting the engine, ect... and some plans don't really give you the best way of doing certain parts of a build, knowing that comes with experience, so don't start with the biggest baddest plans you can get.
If you have built a kit before and have fair woodworking skills it shouldn't be a problem.