I started with the T-Hawk got a Slow Stick for my second plane. If I had to do it over again, I'd pass on the T-Hawk. The T-Hawk flies well and is very tough. The spare parts pack that Toytronics includes with the initial purchase are second to none. I went through the spare parts pretty fast as I found that if there was any obstruction in the field, I'd hit it. I hit a pole, a tree, and finally wiped out the first wing by ramming a chain link fence. The T-Hawk is very fast for a beginner and the spare parts kept me in business until I could handle it. I put in about 150 flights before I retired the poor beat up thing. If you choose the T-Hawk, be sure to get the FM option so you have full proportional throttle and you have pitch and roll on the same transmitter stick. It's well worth the extra $20.00 just to have your right thumb handling the elevater and rudder at the same time. The cheaper option has an on-off switch for throttle and has elevator on one stick and rudder on the other. Not good when you go to a four channel set up. I know because the FM option wasn't available when I bought my plane. I had to relearn everything when I bought my four channel set up. The T-Hawk is a great plane and you'll learn to fly R/C with it but:

The Slow Stick is better! The SS is just as light and twice as big. With this super light wing loading, it will slow down to walking speed without stalling. With the stock set up, it's a cinch to fly and will climb like mad. To take off, you can hand launch into the wind or take off on fairly rough grass because the wheels are big and the landing gear is strong. Just point it into the wind, give it full throttle and toss it straight ahead. Once it gains speed, pull back on the elevator stick a little and it will climb out at nicely. Release the elevator
stick if it climbs at too high an angle. Let it climb 100 feet straight ahead and then cut the throttle to about 1/2. Practice doing gentle circles in both directions adding a little up elevator when the nose starts to drop. Learn to use the elevator to just maintain altitude and only use it a little. You will soon learn that too much up elevator means DOWN!

This plane will loop, hammerhead, and wingover beautifully. It will turn several times tighter than the T-Hawk can without loosing altitude. Experienced flyers are going nuts over this plane. Powerful brushless motors are being mounted so the SS can climb verticle, hover, and accelerate vertically out of a hover. Mods such as ailerons and oversized rudders and elevators, and clipped wings are being added to make them even more manuverable. The Slow Stick has turned out to be a universal airplane. I still can't resist the allure of the SS even though I more into pattern flying at this stage of my progression in our hobby. My SS now has all the mods mentioned and the brushless motor. At our flying field, we have contests to see who can fly their SS inverted the longest. They don't like to climb when inverted but we've been able to maintain altitude with the modified elevator (and plenty of it).

The Slow Stick is the only plane I've bought more than once. I'm on my third one now. They are so cheap ($35) and easy to build and fly so well that many of us have them with us every time we go flying. We do so many crazy things with them that we sometimes break them beyond repair but generally, they are repaired with epoxy and tape very quickly. I'm sure there will be a forth (probably a fifth and sixth) Slow Stick in my future.

You'll spend more to go the SS route but if you get hooked (and you will) it's well worth it. Get a 4 (or more) channel set up because you will need it later. They can be had for a little over $100. A couple of Lithium Poly 2S 1500 batteries and a charger can be bought for another $125. The plane is only $35. I know this blows your budget a bit but all of this stuff goes into your next plane which might be a nice aileron trainer like the GWS E-Starter.

Good luck in our great hobby! Randy (another one)