The $200 limit is a bit tight, unless you can find a good deal on used equipment. (not all used stuff is junk... but you have to be careful.)

You'll quickly outgrow any radio short of 4 channels. Its a pain to find out that you should have spent $20 more to save $120 on upgrading. (that's about the difference in buying a 3 Ch with NiCds and a 4 ch which WILL have NiCds.)

Gas vs electric... mainly a personal choice now. The quality of electric drive units is getting pretty good now. Its possible to get essentially the same performance as from a glow powered model.

Glow models continuously need feeding, and fuel is a bit expensive. Electric drive systems will have you buying batteries (you'll constantly want better, lighter, higher capacity batteries, and they do keep improving...) plus the charger(s) to support them.

Electric models are cleaner and quieter. But there's a better selection of glow powered models. (Later, you can learn what it takes to convert a glow model to electric... not hard for me after 30 yrs building airplanes.)

There are several different Cessna ARF's on the market... some are decent, some are nearly junk... be careful. The Kyosho appx 3 ft span styrofoam model (Electric, comes with 3 ch radio as a complete RTF setup) almost requires you to be an advanced pilot to be able to fly it. (once its set up right, it doesn't fly badly... but its NOT a good trainer!)

There's several on-line hobby supply "stores." Tower Hobbies is pretty good. Chief Aircraft (they sell full scale aircraft and instrumentation too...) is also good. I can't comment on the others... haven't dealt with them enough.(one good or bad experience doesn't mean a lot. On-line companies make 100's of sales on a slow day.) You do have to be careful about E-Bay deals. (read the fine/hidden [white text on white background...] print on the "I am Silly" guy... up to $350.00 shipping on some items!)

If you are lucky enough to have a local hobby dealer.. check there. The price is usually about the same as with shipping from the on-line dealer. Its a good thing to be able to drive 5 min to get a spare prop or glowplug so you can fly the same day. (My local shop is 5 mi away... 2 mi from one flying field. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] )

Information overload... visit: http://webpages.charter.net/rcfu/ Read his beginner's info pages. Bookmark the site its got LOTS of good info.