If you don't want the challenge of building for your first plane, I offer another possible candidate. The GWS Slow Stick has a 46" wing span and is made of foam flying surfaces and an aluminum stick fuse. It assembles in about 4 hours and is easy to fly. It costs $35 and comes with an adequate sized motor.

A number of threads exist on RC Universe, just do a search on "slow stick" and you should have some reading and hints.

Sierra Gold