Somewhere in this thread someone said that the choice of a second plane depends on what your first plane is. Maybe this is more key than folks realize.

I learned to fly R/C on an LT-40, moved to a 4* after three months, then a Nobler two months later. I've only been flying R/C for a total of 6 months and am now building my 4th plane- a 60 size 300S. So far, no serious crashes- my shop is filling up with planes fast and if I don't begin crashing some soon I am worried my wife won't let me buy anymore.

But my LT-40 was kit-built with 1/2 the recommended dihedral and a 46FX for power. It is no pattern plane, but I was able to practice inverted flight, rolls, cuban-8's, and how to recover from a vertical stall with it before moving on. The 4* is much quicker and will do more radical maneuvers, but is not all that different from my LT-40 during "normal" flight. Anything less than the 4* for a second plane would have been a wasted step.

So, maybe the proper response to the 2nd plane question depends on the answer to some more questions, some of which depend on what the beginner learned on: How fast is his first plane? How long has he been flying it? Can he find the runway regularly when landing? Can he do basic maneuvers? How about inverted flight and more complex maneuvers?