Thats a nice job. I've built 3 bigbirds, the third being my own but its not finished yet. IMHO, building is just as much a part of this hobby as flying. I guess it depends on the individual, as to what they prefer to devote their time to.
No offense meant to anyone, (PLEASE!!!!) but I too would get an expert pilot to fly my plane for me if I had any doubts about my skills with an exotic model.
A few years ago I looked into scratch building a B-1 (I think thats the one with the wings that fold back during high speed flight). Part of my research was into who in my club had enough experiance with big, fast, very expensive planes, that I could trust my to teach me how to fly such a plane. Sadly, I found it had been done before, very nicely from fiberglass, and then crashed on its maiden flight. If I remember correctly, the article said the builder/owner also got a model jet pilot to fly his plane for him.
When I finish my 1/4 scale Mustang, I plan to get a .60 size or maby a little bigger Mustang and fly it until I feel confident about my skills with this type aircraft. Even then I may make the maiden flight with the Nosen on a buddy box with an instructor. I currently fly a .40 Midwest Aerostar that I built a lot of sport into. Its about as aerobatic as a high wing can be and a whole lot of fun. My first plane was a .40 Mustang and when I first started flying, I was so stressed out that it wasn't fun to fly and I prefered to build.
There is no shame in being careful, considering all that could go wrong and who could get hurt when an airplane gets away from the pilot. [sm=thumbup.gif]