I've been flying for about two years now and my first plane was a Hobbico Superstart .40. I still fly it to this day as I have sold the four channel radio that it came with and got a 6 channel. I used the extra channel to mount a disposable camera to the bottom that presses the button with a servo. The plane flies great with no bad habbits and I tought myself how to fly it. The whole package with os .40, futaba four channel radio, and plane (mostly assembled) was 299 bucks at my local hobby shop. The plane will do loops and rolls but won't wow a crowd. It's fun to practice touch and goes and for me, aerial photography.
Hope that helped a bit,
Ryan
P.S. I've moved into water planes now and they are a BLAST! You could add floats to your trainer if you wanted to open up a whole new world of flying.