I thought about starting my own thread for this same subject - maybe I can get some free advice, too.

I have been out of the hobby for 15 years. I learned on a Dynaflight Butterfly with an OS .20 FP - it was a powder puff, and I eventually got too wild with it and had a wing shear off. My next plane was a Great Planes PT-20. I learned that I don't like dealing with small planes, especially when there's wind involved. I was mostly done building a .60-sized seaplane when I left for college. The airframe got demolished when my parents moved, but I still have the Fox Eagle .74 glow engine and my Futaba 4-ch radio from it, although it's 15 years old and I don't know if there are new frequency limitations that would prevent me from using it. At the very least I figure I'll have to buy new battery packs for the TX and RX as the old ni-cad batteries are probably no good.

I'd like to get a 60-sized ARF to start flying right away with the engine and radio I already have and spend the winter building the "next plane" to take a 30cc-sized gasoline engine I'm going to convert with my father in-law. I have been practicing with the FS One simulator (man, it'll show you how rusty you are) and I have been making very good progress flying different planes on the sim. I want an ARF that I can set up gentle at first, but something that won't be so boring or fragile as the Butterfly that I end up ripping it's wing off once I get my confidence back. You know, something with growth potential.

Would something like the Great Planes .60 Big Stik be something I could probably handle, or should I go for a more traditional trainer? I have even heard folks say a Sig four star isn't too bad for someone with some prior experience.