A simulator is your best bet for getting hours of experience with no time or $$$$ wasted rebuilding. Then getting a small electric that you can fly almost anywhere (w/o driving out to your club field) would be the next thing to do to get more real stick time. If you're still a long way from soloing, and you insist on buying a small electric, definitely get one that you can easily repair/rebuild. The foamie planes look pretty durable, and are probably easily glued back together. SPADs are a good way to build planes quickly and cheaply, but those are mainly nitro planes. There are plans for a foamie "SPAD" on http://www.spadtothebone.com , and there are many other foam plane plans on the web if you look around.