The "second plane" question. Many are very quick to recomend the 4 Star series as it is a great second plane and the traditional choice. But rairly does anyone ask the original poster what kind of flying are you interested in doing? Are you the lazy circles guy? Aspiring 3D or IMAC pattern pilot? Scale civil or warbirds? Giving us an idea of where you want to go in this hobby will give you better results because right now all you know is what the other people think was/is a great second plane for them.

On a side note I recomend to my students that they spend as little as possible on their second plane, perhaps a used airframe from a reputable club member. The reason being is after a new pilot is cut loose of his trainer they soon find out that basic flying of almost any plane is not that difficult. So they start pushing the plane and their skills to try to find the extent of both and they often do in short order. Often times the pilots trainer will outlive their second and third planes. I have also in the past pointed out that a [link=http://www.spadtothebone.com/]SPAD[/link] might be a good choice as they are the least expensive airframes you can get and very durable/repairable. They are also a lot of time difficult to fly and force the pilot to concentrate on basic skills that will be reinforced and perminantly impressed upon the pilot for all subsequent aircraft choices. It has been said that if you can fly a SPAD you can probably fly just about anything.

Good luck, have fun, don't quit.