Hello, and welcome back to the hobby!

Theres a huge range of aircraft available nowadays, and you'll find a lot has changed in the past five years.

I never thought I'd be saying this, but I'd recommend an electric model to refresh your flying skills with - the costs have dropped astronomically, and it's going to be more reliable than a glow/ nitro model.

If you want to build your model, I'd highly recommend one of the aircraft put out by Sig (http://www.sigmfg.com). They sell the Herr model line, and the Cloud Ranger is an easy build if you want something a bit smaller. For power, you can get a small glow engine, but an electric setup will be far more reliable in the long run, for about the same price. If you want a "Full sized" trainer, the Sig Seniorita is fantastic, and it's probably the gentlest flying aircraft in its size range. It can take either a small 2 stroke, around the 30-40 range, or a brushless out runner and LiPo pack with some light modifications.

For ARTF and RTF models, the Hobbyking Bixler is a really nice flying aircraft. I've flown the Bixler V1.1, and I'd recommend it to anyone. It's can fly like a glider with that high aspect ratio wing, but can also do pretty much any aerobatic manoeuvre when you become comfortable enough. With a 1300 mAh 3 cell pack, it has about fifteen minutes endurance for a mixed flying style, and easily 20+ minutes if you are just floating around. It runs about $100, but I'd recommend you buy the receiver ready model and a nicer radio.

The ARTF link, without a radio, ESC or battery, is below:

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...00mm_ARF_.html


Brand name radio gear is pretty much universally good. You'll hear a lot of rhetoric one way or the other, but chances are, if it's a 2.4 gHz setup from Spektrum, Hitec, Futaba, or one of the other big brands, you'll be fine. Receivers are largely brand specific nowadays, so you'll want to pick a brand and stick with it. I'd recommend at least a 6 channel computer radio from one of the above companies, so you'll have decent programming functions and mixing for down the line.

Keep us updated on your choice, and good luck!