Hey all... I've just read the first two pages and would like to add some comments...

I, personally, like electrics... foamys. Being 13, the LHS people tried to get me to buy a Hobbyzone Firebird Scout... I ended up getting the Parkzone J-3 Cub. The person said that i'd crash it within 5 minutes guaranteed and if i didn't he'd cover 20% of the cost of my next plane!

Well... first flight behind the LHS in the corn field... First time on any real airplane (not counting 6 years of sim experience) and I get 10 solid minutes of flying in, mostly racetrack patterns but a couple of figure eights also. Now I'm comfortable flying with the Cub, and think I might move on to the typhoon!

We had a fun-fly/try the planes type thing at the LHS this weekend. I did get to try out the Typhoon (great on low rates, but a bit squirrelly on hi rates... it can torque roll on the standard NimH pack though!) and also the Hangar 9 PTS Mustang. With all the trainer features, I'd say that it was the same difficulty, if not easier, than the Cub. It slices the wind better, and doesn't want to noseover on a perfect landing like the cub does with it's 1 inch wheels and 1.5" prop clearance. It IS faster than the Cub, (duh) but its large size really helps with the visibility. With trainer functions removed, the Stang is great! Loops, Immelmans, and point rolls are fine... knife edges are hard to hold, but most aerobatics are a breeze. For a pilot who's only flown a Cub and just test flown a Typhoon, the PTS Mustang was really a breeze, both trainer style and hi-rate, Warbird style. I would say that you can't go wrong with a PTS Stang!!!