I'm on the fence on the used stuff,,dont go craiglist or the bay,,,alot of times a person will join up , buy everything and first little mishap they want out, and will dump their stuff for 1/2 price...which can be good, because you could get a good radio/flightbox/plane/engine/ for $xxx...or you could end up with a cracked up airframe/locked up engine /and a radio thats only been dropped a few time....so do what 67stang says and get a flying model that you can see fly at the field...alot of times though people tend to keep their trainer for the first flight of the day,,,so its not like they're a dime a dozen....go out to the field, you will learn a lot fast!.....Rog
and ask at your local hobby shop, they often have planes hanging from the ceiling that are ready to fly, just add rx/tx and fuel...