Well, I have found this to be true with just about any hobby that you will decide to undertake. There always seems to be a good size upfront cost to get into a new hobby. The RC hobbies are really no different. For example, I play airsoft which is kind of like Paintball but a lot cheaper. The upfront cost was puchasing a gun to play airsoft. It was a bitter pill to swallow but afer that it is really just maintenance and what ever modifications I wanted to do to it. I see Rc airplanes not much different. You will have to buy a lot of field equipment up front, but a lot of the stuff you can use with other planes, projects, ect. Not to say that you will not keep spending money out the yingyang, because there is always some cool item that will make things easier and better that we just have to have.

Oh by the way, Paintball was the only Hobby/sport that I played that this didn't seem to ring true with what I had just mentioned. I found that the more I played the faster I could shoot meaning the more paintballs I used, and those things are expensive.