looks like i've opened up a can of worms.

gboulton, opjose - i am humbled by your responses and am happy that you both have valuable input. i think all of this goes back to gboulton's notion not to generalize, that every plane has its particular characteristics and that is what really determines whether that particular plane is right for a 2nd plane. my experiences clearly vary from yours. and while all your rationale does make sense to me, i still have a hard time accepting them based on my own experiences. as such i will make these amends.

don't fly themselves - it would be good to find something that does right itself. which ones i will not say but i'd say a WACO probably not :-)
orientation - if you want a bipe, please ensure that you make the top and bottom of the wings look different.
ground handling - please choose a plane that is not short coupled. choose something like the hog bipe suggested by gboulton
setup - if you choose a plane that has a long nose and a long tail then setup will not be any more difficult.

the only thing i would disagree is the balance issue. the shorter the object, the more difficult to balance and with the added complexity of two wings, i've always found it more difficult to ensure balance is exactly right. but i'm not going to make a martyr out of me :-) if you guys think balancing is as easy and forgiving, that is okay with me.

thanks, gboulton for your reply. opjose, your response is qually valuable except that you make some of the same gross generalizations that got me in trouble! but let's leave it at that. i just hope that people reading this post learn from us.

btw - opjose, your daughter has talent. maybe more so than a lot of us!