I had my first plane for almost 20 years and only got rid of it due to damage from too many moves, and there were several mods I should have made during building that I had to work harder on making after a year or two of flying. Do the mods you want and enjoy every minute of the build and flying. Go about it the right way and you may have a plane for decades to come.

P.S I actually learned on my own with no help whatsoever, also no sims back then cir. 1981.