Someone mentioned the key earlier, a good 3-d plane needs to be light. Wing loading is the key, when you get a full fuselage airplane you wind up adding 1/2 lb or more of weight. That can be huge for a .40 sized plane.

If you are trying to learn 3-d you should buy a plane that is tough and will stand a few crashes into the ground. Hovers and such are easier down low because you can see what the plane is doing better. But you will most likely crash it a time or two. Mojo's will tolerate this well, swanyhouse.com also has a few others that would do well, I have a Burrito and it is a fantastic 3-d learning plane. EASY to fly. Easier than the mojo to learn on I think. The Katana that some have mentioned is ok too, I much prefer my burrito to it though. My burrito came in a 4 lbs 2 oz ready to fly with a .46AX on it. The Katana is 4lb 15oz with a Saito .80. The twist is closer to 5.5 lbs. I hate my twist, have only flown it 3-4 times now. Does NOT do 3-d well. The katana is easy to fly, but the burrito beats it hands down.
I have since built a Mojo 60 size and love that plane.... 1000 sq. in. of wing area and only 5.5 lbs. FUN.

If you want an arf and aren't up to the building check out billyhellrc.com they have a couple of .40 sized profile arf's that are cheap and light. Would work great. If you are dead set against profiles then I would agree with what JoeAirPort said... go to a .60 size.

General guidelines I have found... if you don't wanna mess with calculating wing loading:
~750 sq. in. of wing surface with a weight of 4-4.5 lbs is good (.40 sized) Go much heavier than that and 3-d performance suffers.

That being said, there are pilots who can 3-d a brick. You would think they are flying the best plane made when you watch them fly, but if you are trying to learn, (as I am) get something that makes it as easy as possible... and once you know some maneuvers then move up to some bigger scale plane.