Obviously, as me Pap used to say: "There's more than one way to skin a cat."
Some folks are patient, meticulous, careful and dilligent and they very likely have what it takes to teach themselves how to fly. I started with free-flight and control-line and transitioned to a two-channel glider pretty well. LOTS of crashes and rebuilds, but the glider is still flyable (though stripped of components at present). By then I had made friends with a slightly-more-experienced glider pilot and that "networking" helped immensly. But when it came to powered flight with a four-channel and .25 engine (in a ".25 to .40 recommended engine size" kit built trainer) I failed miserably. I built too heavy, was underpowered for grass take-offs and, unlike gliders and free-flight, no one told me you don't initially test the glide on an R/C model by hand-launching. [
] More repairs just kept adding more weight and less chance of success. I found other interests.
20 years later a friend was given an R/C model and I bought one so we could go to a local R/C Club with student instruction - WHAT A DIFFERENCE. I missed a huge opportunity, to be 20 years better at it than I am now, had I started correctly. As someone earlier pointed out: you can't teach yourself. You can only try different things and emperically find out what works and what does not. If you don't have the financial or self-sacrifice stamina to weather the failures it is a hard row to hoe. It's like riding a bike - you start small and work up and lose a lot of skin.
Or, get enough cheap models that a progression of them eventually leaves an impression in your skills.
The other great benefit of a club - if you hang out with experienced pilots you will learn a lot of tricks, trechniques and solutions that keep you growing in the hobby. Our club just hosted the 2012 Rally of Giants and I will be busy altering things on my models to increase efficiency and enjoyment based on what I saw and discussed. What could be better for a pilot than expanded horizons?