Electric absolutely rules in small models. It's affordable and much more reliable and cleaner than small (smaller than .20) engines. Go to medium size models (.40 to 1.20) and electric is still practical but the plane will be significantly more costly than a glow engine powered model. For a .60 size airplane powered by electricity, you can expect to need at least two, better yet three 4500 mAh 6-s lipo battery packs at a cost of about $280 each and a charger capable of charging them, preferably from 115 volt AC if it's available at your flying field. Recharge a half dozen batteries of this size with your car battery and you may need jumper cables to get your car started at the end of the day.
Electric powered giant scale is for the very rich.

The performance of lipo batterys and brushless motors is astonishing. At least half of the top ten competitors in F3A worlds were flying electrics.