Bellinghan, Wa.??? I used to live in a part of Issaquah before it was Inc'ed by Sammamish.

Anyway go with a good .46 ball bearing (not bronze bushing) engine. OS is probably the top choice as it is very beginner freindly and easy to operate (hmm... that was redundant) but about the most expensive. Thunder Tiger, I feel, is right there with OS but a few bucks less. The Tower brand will take a little more patience but have been proven to be good engines albeit more finicky about their tuning (experienced operators might not even notice a difference though). The new kid on the block is the Evolution series of engines. They are very easy to operate and very well priced and would serve your project well.