I had one of these, and would have to say that it is a very good flying model.
It isn't extremely fast but looks very scale in flight.

If your piloting skills are there, I wouldn't hesitate to use this as your first jet. Jets fly so good that I think they are easier to fly that props.
The learning curve is the throttle response is slower and will require you too think ahead of the model. Also learning to get it slowed down to land is a little bit of a curve, but not a problem.

With the help of a experianced jet modeler, I would say go for it.

After that I had a BVM F-86. BV's is ALOT faster, but it's probably one of the nicest flying jets in the world. The one I'm talking about is the Ducted fan version. I also had a turbine version, that flew beutifully, but nothing can match the flight performance of the fan powered one.
The wing loading was so light that it grooved very well.
I would think that BV's 80" F-86 should be close to that since it's so big.

Anyway good luck and go for it!