I've spent most of the summer flying a Wing Dragon and having a lot of fun with it, and am at the point where I am ready to "Move Up" so to speak. The Wing Dragon is a great plane to learn on, and was great for someone like me who has very little time, and wants to spend what little time I have flying instead of building. As I look toward my second plane, I'm looking for more universal parts that can be used in future planes, as opposed to continuing to buy new RTF planes every time.

My problem is that I'm still a bit leary of LHS's. 8 years ago I was a 20 year old kid with stars in my eyes and went into my local LHS looking to get into model airplanes. The owner told me they were out of trainers but that I looked like I could handle a glow engine Spitfire... (I'm sure you know where this goes from here.)

$900 later, I still have the Futaba Radio from that endeavour, but that is about it. It took me quite a while to get back into a position where I could enjoy the hobby again, and I just want to do it right. I work at a Drag Strip and work most weekends and a lot of late nights, but I do use the track as my own airfield, doing touch-and-go's on the track, skimming the grandstands, and weveing between the light towers. However it is a rarity that I can get to a Hobby Shop, as my nearest is an hour away, the same distance as the nearest RC Flight Club. So in a lot of ways I feel on my own, and am just looking for help putting together a good 4 Channel Cesna shaped plane/package that uses "Standard" Equipment I can use in future planes.

I've seen a lot of packages around on the internet, but many seem to be the bare minimum necessary for that plane. NiCad Batteries or cheap chargers etc. I know not everything can go from one plane to another, but I would like to have fun with the hobby, and not get burned by it again.