G'day

In 1989 my son (12 years) and I (about 40) decided to learn to fly RC planes. I built a semi symmetrical wing trainer (wing curved underneath) for me (first mistake) and a short time later a Great Planes PT 40 (flat bottomed wing) for my son. It really should have been the other way round with the slower flat bottomed wing for me. There is an old saying in real plane pilot training. "It takes as many hours to learn to fly as your age." It is pretty true.

To cut a very long messy story short. He my son soloed in about 2 months. I was still learning about 6 months later and even a year later I was not confident except with glider type models.

You will take longer than your son. He can learn quite easily on any of the trainers you have mentioned. You would be better with something slower, larger and lighter like the Sig Kadet LT-40 or its great little (but not small) brother the LT-25. The 40 is again available as an ARF I think but the 25 is only available as a kit. It is an easy kit to build but you may not want to do that. Both of them fly really well. Their older and even bigger cousin the Sig Kadet Senior is even better for the "more mature" learner. I use a couple to teach with and I always start with them.

Having said all of that, I would REALLY STRONGLY suggest you find a club and an instructor you can get along with and see if you can get some initial instruction on his plane or his club's plane. Then you will know what to buy and what you need.

Basically though, you need -

A Trainer which is a purpose designed trainer. Not a scale model trying to be a trainer. The bigger the better.
A reliable engine. This will start all sorts of suggestions. OS are reliable but expensive and if you are starting out are a good place to start. Thunder Tiger too. Then there are a lot of cheaper Chinese engines. I'd suggest either the OS AX46 or its simpler brother the LA 46. The LA is simpler, tougher and works really well in trainers. It is cheaper too.
A starter or chicken stick and a battery for the starter.
A glow driver. The pocket ones with a NiCd or NiMh battery are my favourite. Get the charger too with it.
A glow plug spanner and some spare plugs.
Fuel. 10% nitro is fine more is better for power but is not necessary. I use fuel with a mixture of Synthetic and Castor oil and 10% nitro for all my engines including four strokes.
A box to put it all in and some basic tools. Use spanners on your engine not shifting spanners or pliers.
Some props. They do tend to get broken. 11 x 6 is a good starting size.
Rags to clean up etc. The list goes on forever.

But as I said before, the best bit of advice I can give you is to find a club and ask some questions.

Cheers and have fun. Oh yes, the E-Flite Radian (not the Pro) is a great electric glider. You can learn to fly quite quickly with one of these.

Mike in Oz