They do make them smaller but most planes that small aren't suited to learn to fly on. Also, when you say you have a "huge yard" how big do you mean?? Because if it's anything less than 10 - 15 acres it's probably too small to fly in. If you will be trying to fly in a populated area you could also run into liability issues if you crash the plane and hurt someone or damage their property. Your best bet for successfully and safely learning to fly a larger glow powered airplane would be to contact and join a club in your area. I did a search on the AMA's website and found there are 18 clubs within a 25 mile radius of Akron, you can find that list here: [link]http://www.modelaircraft.org/ClubZipLocator.aspx?z=44302&d=25[/link] .

Hope this helps

Ken