Hey Joe. Where in NJ are you? Reason I ask is because there are a few clubs in our area (Atlantic City area) and I could help you getting started in that respect.

Check this thread, by RCKen, on trainers. The list is quite large, including kits, ARF's, and RTF's.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_4537845/tm.htm

I've flown four of these models, and still have one of them. The other three, well, I crashed one, and sold the other two.

If you DO go for an RTF, well, you have a ready to fly plane, but the radio is usually a basic four channel radio that works fine for the plane, but if you want to move it to a different plane later on, well, that's what you have to do.. move it. If you get an ARF (Almost Ready to Fly), well, you add your own radio, your own engine, and your own servos to the ARF. A kit, well, it's a box of laser cut parts that you glue and then cover..add your own radio, engine, & servos.

If it were me, depending on your building talents, well, an ARF is a good starting place. It is totally covered. Normally, you glue the wing halves together, glue on the horizontal and vertical stabs in the rear of the fuselage, hinge the control surfaces, add your components.. servos, engine, tank, battery pack, & receiver, then do the mechanical adjustments to center everything, set the Center of Gravity, then fly the thing.. of course, with the aid of an instructor and a "buddy box" which is a transmitter wired to another transmitter, one being the master the other being the trainer box. The instructor flys the plane until you are ready to take over, he pushes and holds a button which gives the student control, and you fly. If you get in trouble, the instructor simply lets go of the button and takes over, thus saving the plane from a crash.

As for recommendations, well, a good starting ARF would be a Tower Trainer 40 with an OS .46 AX engine.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXCAS2&P=RF
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXFMD5&P=7

If you want a good RTF, well, I believe Phoenix Angel (next post) put up a link for the Hobbico Nexstar Select.. he posted while I was editing.. It's a great trainer. Bonus.. you get sim software specifically for the Nexstar Select... but it does not have a computer radio.... good for future applications.

For a radio, well, any of the good 2.4GHz radio systems, Airtronics, Futaba, Spektrum, JR, Hitec, all work fine. I have a Spektrum DX6i and a DX7 radio. The 6i is a six channel radio.. for basic channels.. aileron, rudder, throttle, elevator, and two auxiliary channels for other purposes. The DX7 has seven channels. All the radio manufacturers make computer radio's (both the Spektrums I have are computer radios) that have all sorts of capabilities, as well as multiple model memories, which means you can have several planes and one transmitter.

This is the basic info.. of course, fuel, glow starter, tools, and so on...

Let me know where you are in NJ.. if you don't want to post it, send a PM.

CGr.