RE: newbie
I'll say get a T-Hawk. The Easystar I have as well (it is also an excellent plane) and tried learning to fly with it but had trouble for some reason. The T-Hawk is basically the same plane except for the material and boom but was much easier for me to learn with and I can now fly the hell out of it! What a blast! PLUS it comes with 2 main wings, 2 tails, 2 batteries and spare rubber bands in case you damage any of them during your learning curve! An EXCELLENT value IMHO am I'm fairly new to R/C/ flying.
Tom