Cheers guys.  I'm pretty sure the club doesn't have a specific trainer set aside for new guys.  It is only a small club with less than 50 members and apparently on most weekends there are only between 10 and 15 guys down there.  I've only been down once though so it's a bit hard to get a feel for what's what at this stage.  Maybe they do have a club trainer but I'm sure one of the guys would have mentioned it to me the other day if that was the case. 

My thoughts about the radio are all over the place at the moment.  Do I spend $150 - $200 and get a new but cheap Futaba 6EX so I can Buddy up with an instructer and then get a better radio down the track when I need it?  Do I go all out and spend $650 on an 8FG and servos? Do I try and get a real cheapy second hand jobby Futaba to Buddy with?  Or do I go for the Aurora ($520 with servos included) and not bother with the buddy or like I posted earlier, see if someone else wants an Aurora and chip in $100 towards it?  I think I'm leaning towards going cheap for now for the sole reason that I don't think I will be able to get down to the club all that often.  I'm thinking maybe once a fortnight if I'm lucky.  So therefore, it will take me a while to learn and therefore a while before I will need to upgrade to a better radio and by then, with the way technology moves along, the 8FG or the Aurora would be superceded by another model.  Which means - What was the point of having a flash $500 plus radio for that time when I only used the features that other cheaper radios have?

Anyway - I still have a bit of time to think about it while I save some pennies, wait for some building tools to arrive and clear a bit of room in my shed so I can start the build!

How's your training and plane coming along Dom?