Conversion of small stick and tissue rubber kits is a popular subject in many threads on E-Zone's Scale Modeling section. I have converted the Guillows PT17 with fairly good results but would not recommend this kind of project to a newish modeler. There are a number of easy to build laser-cut scale kits that are a little larger with more wing area and ability to carry the weight of common micro R/C gear, and lightweight motor and battery packs with good stable survivable flight performance.
Examples: Mountain Models Cessna 180, Dumas 35" w/s Waco SRE. Another good idea is to fly some GWS foam ARF models like the GWS Tiger Moth and then the WWII models ( they have a Corsair) before you jump into balsa electric scale kits.