Your best bet is to join a club before you even begin to build your model. Don't forget you will have lots of questions about the construction of your plane. Being a club member, you will be able to get advice and assistance from experienced fliers when you need it. I'm sure that after building a kit you will not want to take a chance on trying to teach yourself to fly. You will find that most clubs have instructors who will be glad to help you check out your plane and get you in the air on a buddy cord, which is the only smart and safe way to learn.
Most clubs have a flight school scheduled in the spring for new pilots.
That is a hard if not impossible question to answer. Everyone has a different learning curve and there is no set rule on how many flights it will require for you to be able to solo. Kids that have played a lot of video games usually pick it up quicker than the average person. If my memory serves me correctly, I believe the fastest person to solo that I've taught, needed only about 25 training flights on the buddy cord. It would be nice if everyone could pick it up that quick but there is just too much to learn for very many people to do that well.