many of mine are 'scale' models and none of em are cheap.... my Align T-Rex 250 (TINY heli) has an NYPD hughes 500d fiberglass fuse, and w/o the radio it added up to $500...my most expensive to date I'm not even finished with yet... my T-Rex 500N w/ Desert Storm Hughes 500 TOW defender fuse, working navigation lights, flybarless and 5 bladed rotorhead...I won't even mention how much is spent on it already...
...my cheapest heli's (micro's) were around $100, and that's w/o the radio
Ian, my suggestion is, if you really want one, look for an Eflite mcx or mcx2. they used to cost $120 w/o radio, and recently they dropped in price around $80 w/o radio, $120 w/ cheapo radio...
they are mini, IMO the easiest coaxials to learn on, they can take a beating (I purposely dropped mine from 60ft ceiling and no damage..I sold my original to a friend and he's still flying it, I replaced it w/ the V2 just to have for flying around my livingroom). IF you buy an inexpensive Spektrum DX6i channel radio to go with it and IF you find ya like em, you can buy any bind and fly model and add it to the radio (stores up to 20? planes or heli's)