Indeed spend some time with a local club. Most have a trainer program. Get involved as a "student" for a cpl or 3 Buddy Box intro flights. That will tell you if this is really for you. Sorta a try it before you buy it thing. If your still up for it, join AMA and the local club of your choice. Get acquainted with an instructor pilot in your club and ask him to help you get better. Most are glad to help. At this time you can start investing. Plane: SIG Mfg Kadet 40 LT, Kit not ARF. Reason? There comes a time in every pilots career, when physics catches up to us. Its easier to repair a plane if you know how you put it together. Then theres a Radio. There are quite a few extras floating around my clubs members, you may find a good deal within your club, or here in the market. Around the time you finish building your plane, you should be almost ready to solo. In our club, when you can demonstrate proper startup(safe), take off, pattern, stall recovery, and landing; your considered soloed. That would be a great time to bring your finished plane out and have an instructor give it the once over and help set it up for flight. You may even have them maiden fly it, although at this point, you could probably take the sticks after its trimmed out in the air. After that its up to you,,,,,,,,either way,,,,,,its a blast,,,,,enjoy, and welcome! oh, and dont be afraid to ask anything,,,,,,