You just gave everyone on this site a good chuckle with that line.

When you say gas in the size plane you're talking about, you're talking glow-powered. Glow is a good way to go, but it has it's own set of challenges as well as specialized equipment. If you get a glow powered plane, you'll need a glow ignitor, fuel pump, starter (if you don't want to flip start it) and of course fuel...and glow fuel isn't getting any cheaper. I think it's going for $15-20/gallon, depending on where you are. And you still need batteries to power the servos and receiver. They're not quite as expensive as flight packs, but they're not cheap either.

And yes...glow can be messy. The spit oil out the muffler when they run, so end-of-day cleanup is a must. Glow planes must also be fuel-proofed at the firewall and inside the tank compartment. Some people swear by them, but I prefer electric for 40ish-sized planes. In fact, I've got two electrics that are in the 36-48" span range and up from that, I have an 82" gasser. That is, 2-cycle gasoline, like a weed eater. Not as clean and quiet as electric, but just as noisy as glow, even more so, and not nearly as messy.

Lipo power is a good way to go, as long as you've read all you can about the safety precautions concerning handling, charging (they need a special charger, but the Triton mentioned above is capable) and discharging. Planes that require a 3-cell, 2100mAh lipo pack seems to be a sweet spot for electrics that fly like big planes, but just aren't as big.