Bill,
Bingo Flyer makes some good points....and even though I can go a short distance to fly my 2 electrics, I still perfer to drive to the field to fly my glow models. If you do decide to go electric, the Graupner Tipsy that you mentioned is suppossed to be a good plane. I have a Wattage Mini-Max that flies great, but you need very calm conditions to fly it.

Mike