Ron,
First off, welcome to RCU! Great place and you'll get plenty of good info.

I think you'll do okay with the Tower Trainer. (Just have someone to get it in the air and trim it.) There are a couple of things that I don't like about it, primarily the "stick on" covering, but that's a minor point. The extras, like glow igniter with charger, fuel and fuel pump, 12 volt battery charger and starter for the engine all add up. You should figure about $100 to $150 US for these "extras".

The mess of a glow engine can be annoying, but if you keep a box of Baby Wipes in the car, they'll handle clean up pretty easily. I've flown electrics too, but there's no way you can match glow power with electrics without mortgaging the house.

Good luck, and have FUN!
Dennis-