JH313,

I agree with both posts above. The Sig Somethin' Extra and the Sig 4 Star is a very popular first kit. The only issue I have with the 4 Star in your situation is that when it is done, it will be very similar to your Escapade. Both planes have a constant chord wing and quite a bit of dihedral, therefore they will fly almost the same. The Sig Somethin' Extra is a great plane, but it is nowhere near anything scale. The wing on the plane is short and has a very thick chord with huge control surfaces. To me, the Somethin' Extra would be a good plane to start to learn 3D with. Given your choices, I would pick the Ultrasport 60 with retracts HANDS DOWN ! ! ! The kit is only slightly more involved than the other two I mentioned, but most of that is due to the amount of carving involved in getting the nose area shaped correctly. Also, the wing on the Ultrasport is double tapered and semi symetrical which makes it a more closely match the wings on most warbirds. One last thing, you can easily add flaps to the Ultrasport to help you learn their use as well. If is sounds like I love Ultrasports, you are absolutely right. If you want to read more about the Ultrasport, just look through the Ultrasport thread in this Forum.

As far as your question regarding the difference in motor costs, I'm not going to bash any one manufacturer, but from my experience of more that a dozen years, YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. When you decide which kit you are going to build, if you ever have any problems, there are plenty of great guys on RCUniverse that are more than willing to help you out.

Good luck and let us know which way you decide to go......

David