Drone building for my 14 year old boy

My boy is casually interested in drones, and I was considering getting him some books on drone building.

I would love some advice from other drone builders here about it.

He’s 14, and going through the STEM program at school. Instructions aren’t difficult for him to follow. He does not have experience soldering, but he does in building, or putting components together. I do some LED soldering, pretty simple stuff myself, but I’ve never soldered on an actual board.

I suppose my question is, can anyone recommend a “starter kit” or “starter components” for building a drone? I would add him as a member to my account, and bring him to the space if there are tools or groups meeting that would help. I’m definitely willing to help him out, but I’m hoping he’ll take to it and want to do most of it on his own. My budget is a few hundred dollars. I realize components arent’ cheap.

I would appreciate some advice please!

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Wanted to take a minute to acknowledge your post. Me and my son have been involved with RC cars (referred to as Nitros because they are fuel driven) but ventured into drones over the last couple of years. I am by no means a leading authority and would bet they is someone more knowledgeable on the subject than myself, but I am confident I have what you need in both familiarity with the crafts as well as the electronics behind them. I have owned and operated an electronics repair shop for 22 years and have taught electronics for close to 12 years now. Understanding the mechanics of such a craft is only part of it as there is obviously a considerable bit of electronics happenings that take a drone from a nice paper weight to a flying craft. That said, I would be more than happy to extend time at either DMS or my shop to you and your son. My son is 13 and currently uses his drone to fly high pitch roofs obtaining video for various roofing contractors. You son will love it as will you but know if you are not careful you can sink tons of money into this hobby… Anyways, feel free to reach out if I can be of some assistance.

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Thank you so much for the reply. I think if you and I could chat sometime, it would be really great. I’m trying to get a feel for whether he’d like to do this without directly asking of course. Again, thanks for the reply and offer.

Feel free to call me. 214-675-6451