Here is the website for a St Paul club
http://www.spmrc.com/
why don't you see if you can visit them this weekend or another weekend soon. They will be able to give you a lot of personal guidance and answer questions for you too.

As for the second engine choice. You've gone from one extreme to another. This isn't to say it won't fly a plane because it will. It dowsn't have a throttle for one thing though so it is an "all or nothing" type. Many people DO fly this type though. It is considered a 1/2 A engine and there is a separate forum for those and planes for those are smaller and cheaper to build. The radio systems also need to be smaller usually.

Check out the 1/2 A forum here:
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/forumid_70/tt.htm