My license is so old that it isn't the same as my SS number. I flew free flight for some years before I became a full scale airplane driver. The basics of what makes an airplane fly came in handy while I was learning. As far as any help with RC, again the only good thing was I knew why models fly. I was, and am, a model designer and builder. I do this for my own amazement, not for other people unless they want to copy something I bring to the field. I have a few designs on a 3"X5" piece of scratch paper. The over all experience helps in both full scale and modeling. I build kits too because I admire other people's work. As far as "scale" I build what I like. If it's an aircraft I've actually flown I get pretty picky. Always liked and now prefer
WWI scale. All this being said I'm still an intermediate pilot at best. Don't mind the crashes they're just excuses to start building something new.