Warlock-

If I were in your position and just starting to fly, I would get the Aerobird from Horizon Hobby. The Aerobird costs about $169 and is a three channel electric. This basically means that you will be able to control the ascent abd the decent of the airplane with an elevator function, not just increasing the throttle. ALso, it will allow you to do loops and such...gain enough altitude, dive a little and then do a loop...

Now, if you want to go with about anything else, you will need to have some modeling experience in order to put the thing together, you will need to buy a radio, batteries, and everything else that the plane needs.

With the Aerobird, you will get a radio with it, batteries, assembly time is about 20 minutes (if you take your time)...

I learned to fly on the original Firebird and do not regret it...

Also, with the aerobird, you can crash them hard and no spend much to fix them...My original Firebird was put through hell and normally the repair was a tailwing, and once I had to replace the main wing...no more than $20 for either one...

GET THE AEROBIRD!!!

-John