I started up again last year after a longish break and had the same questions you have.
I would go with lipo if I were you as they are so much easier to handle and give great power in combination with brushless. The Losi, GM and SpeedPassion speedos have a reverse feature you can disable. I use a SpeedPassion GT1.1 LPF and it really is great (and cheap
)
Most of the newer chargers will do lipo and you can usually go with one of the cheaper ones if you are only using lipo because they really don't need all the bells and whistles used for NiMh. An integrated balancer would be a good thing to keep your lipos balanced.
If you are just starting out again try one of the recent 2WD's. So much better than that long ago and a lot less work
As for motors, 6.5 in 4wd and 7.5 in 2WD is more than enough power to get you going and you can turn it "mental" by running a hotter power profile later on.
Your radio gear will be fine for the time being as long as it still work but if you want something new go for some of the new 2.4gHz kit, as it does really make your life easier.
HTH
