A 1964 version of the venerable Cox PT-19 earned me a set of control line wings when I was 12. Once I learned basic flight, take-off and landing I moved up to a larger model - a Sterling Ringmaster with a .35 engine. They are not made anymore but I'd recommend Sig's Skyray 35. In fact, their 1/2A (another term for the .049 engine class) Skyray is a fine flyer and will fly circles around ANY plastic airplane. The plastic .049 powered models are just too heavy and underpowered to give a lot of satisfaction but they're expendable and can serve as a basic trainer to "cut your teeth" on. The larger models are much easier to fly.