Buddy box with an instructor at a club is good. You might succeed on your own...hard to say. It depends on how good the plane is and how good your skills/knowledge are. I taught myself to fly on a small glow engined airplane years ago, but I wouldn't recommend it to everyone. I enjoyed it even more after I joined a club.

In our club we often get beginners coming to us with some foam electric they got at a hobby shop or online and then tried to fly in their back yards. Often there is some problem with the balance point or trim or control throws, or it just turns out to be harder to fly than they thought. We usually get them straightened out and flying pretty quickly. Sometimes they join the club and continue to have fun with us, and other times it's like "thanks for the free advice" and we never see them again.