Wow, deja vu. I'm teaching a fire fighter here in Austin. He started off learning on his own with foamys and made progress, but got to a point where he stagnated. His wife bought him a foam P-47 then came to us. We put a few flights on the club trainer, then buddy boxed the P-47. He would have never been able to trim that plane on his own. Trashed it a week later. Short story is, he knows a lot, but is disorganized. We are in the process of going through an accelerated training program using the club trainer. I teach to a program which gives him flight exercises to do until he's ready to move to the next. His schedule, like yours, makes it hard to meet up but I think his patience is finally winning over.

I for one am a big fan of the Kadet LT-40, but any trainer will do, go with as simple an engine as you can get. You want to spend time flying, learning field etiquette, aerodynamics, maintenance, and much more. You dont want to waste time messing around with a cantankerous plane. Get good quality stuff. Like others have said, I fly them for years and years, and do high time maintenance on them. I prefer saito for 4-strokes. I've messed with enough magnums to know that quality has improved over the years but not enough for me to buy them, just my opinion. I do engine repairs for club members. This hobby is a blast and has so many different skills that can be used, it will last your life time if you're so inclined.
Edwin