Hi Sal, welcome aboard...
Stay away from the foam models for now..If you want the ful experience of modeling you should build your first plane from a kit
and experience the pride of your efforts. If thats not your thing , a tower trainer is a pretty good start, remember ,tthe larger the plane , the easyer it is to fly. Go to the nearest r/c club and one of those guys will probably have a trainer complete with engine for around 50 bucks , and will be happy to help you out.
good luck... remember "DON'T FLY IF YOUR GONNA CRY"