I taught myself to fly on a TF Schoolmaster, 39 inch span, 20 oz, with Cox 049. I had flown some free flight gliders and rubber powered models, and that taught me what I needed to know. Of course, no one does it this way anymore, but the physics of flight haven't changed. I'm now a club instructor and have taught people on small electrics to large glow powered trainers, and I've learned a few things.

First, you are much better off with rudder than ailerons. The reason rudder didn't seem to do much on your sim is that the planes you "flew" probably had little dihedral. The dihedral induces the roll when you give it rudder. The advantage for the beginner is that when you release the stick after a turn, the plane returns to level flight by itself, because of the dihedral. Beginners flying an aileron plane with little dihedral get in trouble coming out of turns. They have to give opposite aileron to stop the turn; then they over-control and that's when they start to lose it. Put the rudder control on the right stick where the aileron will be later; with dihedral the rudder is rolling the plane like ailerons would.

Second, the guys above who warned you about control reversal when the plane is coming toward you are absolutely right! It's one of the hardest things to learn and will quickly get you into trouble on your own. I would do things like keep the transmitter pointed in the same direction as the plane and look over my shoulder, and visualize the task when I wasn't flying, and try to remember to point the stick at the wing tip I wanted to lift when the plane was coming toward me. All these tricks kept me from disaster and eventually I learned.

Third, bigger is not better, power is not your friend. A small, light, rather low powered plane reduces the anxiety and helps you stay out of trouble, and less momentum reduces the damage...to the plane and to anything it hits. Train yourself to think of the throttle stick. When in trouble, pull the stick back and let it come down on its own. This is where rudder/dihedral helps too...the plane will let itself down.

If your sim taught you some basic aeronautics that's great, but when it comes to motor skills needed to fly a model it is probably useless. Have fun!

Jim