Wood,
All the choices you have listed are good. The idea of retracts while still in the "learning" curve may be a bit much. You may want to make that a later addition. I haven't seen much advantage to retracts in this size plane. If getting in the air and not spending time building then the Aresti is an excellent choice. You will find the planes will "go where you point them" and won't be any more difficult to to fly. Where the challenge will come is in landing as the planes will penetrate much easier and seem to float past the runway. Hope this helps. Let me know if additional information is needed. Bill