The LT 40 is an excellent trainer, and an easy kit to build. I'd leave it as a trike until you get the takeoff and landing sequences dialed in. Then, switching to a tail dragger don't be hard, and the conversion is easy to do on the plane.

I'm very partial to Hitec radios. I really like the Flash 5x system, unless you're gonna need more radio down the line. There's a lot of bang for the buck there. The Futaba 6XAS is also a great radio, and will handle about 95% of you radio needs for a long time.

That's what I'd do. Good luck, and welcome back to R/C

Dr.1