Another vote here for the 4 Star as a "second airplane"...I'm about to retire mine(sniff) as it is getting pretty beat up and I'm thinking I might just get another one. I wouldn't recomend a warbird... they can be a little bit of a handful as a step up from a trainer.

As for radios, I'd suggest gettting something that is compatible with your current radio(ie, that uses the same "shift" ). That pretty much boils down to another Futaba or perhaps one of the Airtronics/Hitec models that can transmit either "shift". (I have an Airtronics RD6000 and have been very happy with it... )And yes, if it were me I'd go for a computer type radio.

Edit: Remove the smiley that didn't like my punctuation!