Spaceplane help please! Design and technique required

[Kerbonautical]

Ok, I feel relatively familiar with the mechanics of KSP now but there's one thing I still haven't delved into at all. Space Planes! I've flown a couple of the stock ones but without any real understanding of how to actually take one out to LKO or beyond and usually would fly around until my engines cut out from lack of Oxygen and plummet to the ground in a spiralling catastrophe.

Unfortunately I also feel completely out of my depth on where to start with the design as Aviation in KSP seems incredibly complex in comparison. Usually I'm a MechJeb kinda guy but I don't expect to be able to use MJ to fly a plane so I'm prepared for manual flight at least until I hit the LKO. So here's where I need help.

Firstly what's the essentials for making a plane? So far I've got cockpit, fuel, engines, rudder, ailerons, wheels. Is there any missing piece? Secondly, what do I need to add to this to make it space worthy?

With technique what would be a good way to swap between jet engines to rocket engines and what would be a good height to do so? I have a bunch of questions about re-entry too but I don't want to flood you guys with a billion questions before I can even get a plane off the ground.

[Prime flux]

I will point you towards this great post http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/52080-Basic-Aircraft-Design-Explained-Simply-With-Pictures

Also action groups are your friend when switching from air breather engines and rocket engines.

[Hodo]

Space planes are simple when you get the hang of them... but that first dozen or hundred attempts will be rough.

The post that Prime Flux posted is great for building planes that work in KSP and in FAR. I highly suggest if you don't have it get FAR, it will help with aircraft acting like aircraft in atmosphere.

As far as space planes go start small, there are dozens of designs in this thread http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/33312-Showcase-SSTO-s!-Post-your-pictures-here look at some of the designs, most of them are plane types but a few are not but still helpful.

I personally am against airhogging (having more intakes than possible), I run a 3:1 intake to engine ratio. I can get to around 20-28km depending on the SSTO before I switch to rockets.

[Kerbonautical]

Thanks guys! I'll have a look at the threads and hopefully get space plane off the ground for a brief moment before the night is over