Easy question to answer. First, get your flying skills back. Get the $200 HobbyZone Aeroscout 2S Ready to Fly 1.1 meter airplane (transmitter included). Yes, it is made of foam and is ugly, but is has a fantastic range of flying capabilities. It handles wind very well, both in the air and on the ground. The pusher prop doesn't get broken. The three SAFE modes (Beginner, Intermediate, Unlimited) with its AS3X stability system built into the receiver allows it to be switched by the transmitter from very gentle for beginners to quite aggressive as desired. It will fly the entire AMA Novice pattern sequence. Mine can take off, roll inverted at 5 feet and then push up into a half outside loop to level flight with no problems. It will climb in knife edge flight. The point rolls with the AS3X are crisp and clean. It can be forced to snap roll with properly timed control inputs and CG settings. Landings and touch and go's are endlessly enjoyable. It will fly 8 minutes on a 3S-2200 mah LiPo battery. It has a great glide and can come close to soaring if the thermals are reasonably strong. I got 26 minutes out of a 3S-2200 mah battery on a day with decent thermals and using minimal throttle. I bought mine to use as a club trainer, but have ended up flying it more than any of my other 15 flyable planes, including my $1,000 gassers. The Aeroscout is the plane I grab to fly when the wind is variable 15 gusting to 20 and I don't want to risk my gassers. The Aeroscout will get your skills polished up in short order and minimal cost.

Second, join a club that has experienced builders. That is getting more difficult these days, but most clubs that have 20 plus members usually will have an old timer or two that knows how to build and could help you through a good ARF build. There are many decent ARF (Almost Ready to Fly) models that have the major components built up from balsa wood and covered but you will have to do the final assembly. This can take 15 to 20 hours to hinge the control surfaces, install the radio and servos, engine/motor, fuel tank/battery, switches, attaching flight surfaces, landing gear etc. An example would be the Hangar 9 Tiger 30 (90" span for 30 to 35cc gas engines). The kit would be $400, about $325 for a 35cc engine, about $800 for a receiver, satellite receiver, 6 high torque servos and a power expander board... yup over $1500 for a flying 35cc gasser.

Third, after mastering ARF, then try simpler balsa builds. Finding good balsa kits can be tough, so consider scratch building from plans available from the AMA, or AeroFred.com or some of the other plans sharing sites. Again, see step two above for the old timers to help you build it. Your O.S.46 engine is a popular size engine which powers planes that can easily be converted to run on electric motors/electronic speed controll/battery systems. Lots of choices. Although they can go much larger, I generally limit my electric planes to .46 size or smaller due to the high cost of the larger batteries. I'll go up to a .60 two cycle or 1.20 size 4-cycle glow engine, and larger than that I use gassers. A 3S-2200 mah battery can be had for under $20, whereas a 6S-6000 mah LiPo costs about $125 and it will take about four of them to keep you flying at the field while the other three are recharging... just do the math and glow fuel at $30 per gallon won't seem quite so bad and $4 per gallon gasoline is even better.

Good luck.