RE: hows the great planes pt40??
If you already bought the kit it is a bit late to be asking if it is any good. I do think it is a good choice among the available trainer kits.
Great Planes kits are usually good quality and the hardware they come with is the same as the Great Planes stuff you buy off the wall at the hobby shop. Their manuals are very good and most are available online.
I built (as my first kit) the PT-60 which is very similar construction, just a little bigger.
I totally disagree with page 4 of the manual where it strongly recommends building the 'trainer' wing and flying without functional ailerons. I would definitely build the "Sport(B)" wing configuration. I have seen two of these with the trainer wing. The slightest breeze from the side would turn them over.
I also prefer building the bolt-on wing rather than using rubber bands. My experience with rubber bands, on my ARF trainer, has been that using enough to hold the wing tightly in place resulted in torn up the leading and trailing edges when I cartwheeled the plane. When I cartwheeled my PT-60 the wing bolts broke and there was little damage to the wing. Maybe I was just lucky, but I am convinced that bolts are the way to go.
I am getting a little better, I have not cartwheeled a plane in a while. I still knock out a landing gear on occasion.