Hey Grant,

Sorry about the rugby the other night mate, still you did beat us Kiwis! I am also interested in starting in R/C and have a plane on the way(got stuck in the courier somwhere up north)
I stumbled on this forum while using google and let me tell you, LISTEN to all the advice you get on here; ther is a great bunch of guys here.

All the advice you have recieved sounds good so there's not much that I can add.
However which way do you want to go, electric or glow? I am going glow because I cant imagine a true spitfire making no sound at all! If you decide or have decided to go the glow route then you WILL have join a club and get some training help. The club will also provide with insurance and maybe a magazine.
Hope this helps

P.S- If you want to go glow and RTR then check out Hobbico's NEXStar, apparently it's quite good.