I'm having a lot of fun learning on the Hobbyzone Champ. It is only 3 channel, so it is not the 'destination' airplane, but the advantages for you are: 1. very small and appropriate for your backyard, 2. slow and simple making teaching yourself a definite reality, 3. very durable, you will crash it and it will survive a great deal of abuse, and 4. inexpensive, at less than $100, you can learn on this one for a few months, then have $$ to step up to 4 channel. Unless you want to go to a club and pay an instructor, I think this is a great way to go, and don't think that because it's 3 channel and relatively slow that it's not a great deal of fun.