Old school pattern planes? Wow ... I wish I had one or rather had the skills to build one! Yeah ... MK kits are nice.

If you are about to just flirt with F3A why not try something that is an all round flying plane. I would vote for the Fliton Extra 330 Freestyle but she will want a nice 70 sized 4C. You can of course use sport planes like say the WM Super Sport 40 for sportman level or the WM Spot On 50. After trying a 'proper' pattern plane you will not want to use other planes to fly for pattern. They are so straight and go where you point them. All your mistakes are so obvious. That's what I learnt.