You may want to repost this thread into the beginners category to get some more response on it. First of all, you will want to start with a trainer airplane; they usually have .40 cubic inch engines. I chose to go with gas because I really enjoy having something that I can hear up there in the air and I think it is really cool to see these little engines work. The gas might take a little bit more money because of the fuel and it will take more time becasue you have to break-in the engine before you can get it running in top notch shape. You will probably get mixed opinions on what type of engine, gas or electric to get becasue everyone has different things that they like. For the price of the airplane, you can probably expect to spend somewhere around $325 and up for everything that you need.