RE: second plane
Another one rarely mentioned is the Sr Falcon. With the right setup it is a great second plane. It is not as snappy as some but is rock solid in the air. I never felt nervous taking it inverted on the deck and that says a lot for a plane with that much dihedral. Flown with a cheap .61 it will give great vertical performance and still slow down to crawl. If you have a good quality .45 it should perform about the same. I do also agree with the other recommendations, but I just loved my Sr. Falcon.