Thanks for everyone's advice. I guess I should have said that I had already bought the Xtra Easy Package. My brother in law has the same trainer with the buddy cord. We took it up for the first time today and I must say I am very exited about getting into this hobby. He also says that the MDS is not the easiest engine to tune and often stalls. He replaced his MDS with an OS and has no problems. He doesn't fly it much anymore, he's constantly building and flying different airplanes. His garage looks like an airport. I am looking forward to participating in this message board, it has been very helpful so far!