I got into RC planes last year. It took me several crashes before I learned how to fly my Slowstick, so don't feel bad. My biggest mistake was flying in too much wind- and having a broken, glitching ESC that caused me all kinds of problems until I finally replaced it. My Slowstick got so beat up actually that I ended up replacing the tail control surfaces totally with a BluCor foam tail that I made myself.
I now am in the process of building a faster, aeirlion plane out of BluCor. It's roughly modeled on WWII warbirds like the P51- and it's going to have a direct drive 400 engine. I guess I will find out real quick if my Slowstick experience and lots of time in the simulator will pay off.
BTW I just made a PPJoy cable for the FMS simulator this weekend- if you have a trainer jack on your radio and haven't already got an interface I recommend it! PPJoy is the best because it means you can use your TX as a joystick in other games too..