The Venus II by Great Planes would suit you perfectly. It meets your size specifications, is a nice quality plane that is easy to assemble, is comparatively inexpensive, and is a great introductory pattern plane. It flies great and performs great with a 2 stroke engine. I have the OS 120AX in mine (is my first pattern ship too =) which is a dynamite combination. Once I flew this plane I was immediately hooked on flying pattern planes, even just for sport flying - the plane does exactly what you tell it to and flies exactly where you tell it to fly - like it's on rails.

There is a whole Venus II thread in the pattern forum, you should check it out.

Plane is available from Tower Hobbies, and they have a $25 off special going on:

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXLHV1&P=0