Thanks for all the advice.

Have gone for the TF Spit as a first build. The really detailed instructions combined with the numerous build logs online make this the most obvious start.

Re flying it, I reckon it will take me over 2 years to build and paint and detail as I want (I only get a few hours a week), so by then I hope my flying skills are up to scratch. I was thinking of moving onto a hangar 9 Spit for some ARF fun to hone my Spit skills before putting 100's of hours of build and detailing in the air.