I am training on the Alpha 40 and I love it. It is a smooth flying easy to learn on plane that is very forgiving. The Alpha 40 is also easy to work on and many of the upgrades are available at your LHS. If you join a club, a good idea in my opinion, your trainer may want to remove some of the limitors that come on the Evolution trainer engine, but the engine is great a runs smooth. As for JR or Futaba on the radio, I would check with your local club. Both are good and the Alpha 40 comes with JR, but you will need to find out what buddy boxes your club has on hand. There is a JR to Futaba trainer cord that will allow you to buddy box on any of the older Futaba radios with the round plub, but in my experience it is much easier to match your radio to the buddy boxes the club has on hand. For example, my club did not have a JR buddy box when I first started, so I bought the JR to Futaba cord until a JR buddy box was found. Now I have a JR XP642 thanks to a generous club member and my old radio is the new JR buddy box. Good luck no matter what you decide.
Indy Park Flyer