Thanks for the input so far guys, please keep it coming.
I've never been to the SIG site before. (You obviously know how big a newb I am now with that statement.) Good stuff there.

I'm hearing you on the 4*40, but it seems a little large for me at this point. I don't have that much room to work with until I move into my new diggs.
The Dynaflite kit is pretty large as well.

Before I purchased a 1/4 Balsa USA D7 kit, I'd certainly go for the 1/12 Arizona Albatross or Pfalz kit. Its actually less expensive and more my size. But its a joke to talk about those right now. If I get into building, those are definitely kits I'd keep my eye on for the long-run.

The Herr mini-sport kit at $25 seems a good entry point. If I completely botch it up I can just buy another and go for it again. Or build it once, then build it again to really get things down. The 35" wingspan seems managable for my workspace. I would probably leave it 3 channel and give to my friend as a trainer or something... try to suck him into the hobby. If he crashes it, then I'll get to learn repairs.

What about that Herr AT6 Texan? Similar size, similar cost. I'm wondering about the way the wings come out of the wing root, it looks like there are some angles there. Would I want to get some practise before taking something like that on?
The Herr Pitts Special starts getting just a tiny bit more expensive, but certainly in my budget. Obviously I'd have 2X as much wing to build up so that might get tedious on a first build.