I'd have to disagree on the quality of Hobbico ARFs. I've now seen the inside of a wing and it's got tons of hot glue, most of it not even on the joints! Fit is also pretty bad, lots of places where you don't have wood on wood contact. I've broken the top sheeting on the wing just by carrying the plane. I also had the front fuselage separate from the firewall on my Avistar on a routine landing, and the landing gear wire bends real easily (and once it's bent it's like it's got memory, because you'll be bending it back a lot).

The Avistar is a great flyer though. It'll do things that flat bottom airfoil trainers could only dream of doing (inverted and knife edge flight are done much easier due to the less self corrective nature of the semi-symmetrical airfoil and less dihedral), yet still float in on most landings. It'll also fly in winds that would ground most trainers.

That being said, I'm disappointed that Hobbico couldn't assemble this plane better than they did. World Models on the other hand has an excellent reputation for putting together some very nice ARFs. While not as well known as Hobbico, I've seen several of their models and they seem to be among the best ARFs on the market. I'd suggest you look at the Worldstar 40. It's World Models' equivalent of the Avistar, an advanced trainer with a semi-symmetrical wing. It's also a bit larger than the Avistar (with a 67 inch wingspan opposed to the Avistar's 59) which is also helpful for beginners.