Tburke1,
First of all realize that I am nothing but supportive of your wanting to learn to fly RC. But as an instructor at our field I can tell you that the ONLY type of students that I dread training are full scale pilots. Your buddy needs to realize that the two are totally different. In a full size plane all of your movement are relative to you. You move the rudder right and the plane turns to your right, you move the aileron right and the plane turns to your right. When you are flying RC you get stick reversal. Meaning that when the plane is coming towards you and you move the stick to the right the plane is going to move to IT'S right, which is your left!!!! You also do not have the "feel" that you have in a full size plane. Your perspective is totally different.

You have on advantage over other students in that you know how to an airplane flies, but please get an instructor anyways. He is going to teach you other things besides how to fly. He will teach you to safely assemble your plane, adjust the motor properly, fly safely, safe repairs, etc. These aren't toys by any means. They are a 5-15 pound weight moving at 50-100 mph with a spinning razor on front spinning at 10,000 rpm, do they math and you will find that it can be very dangerous. Since you are full scale pilots you know that you didn't just jump in a plane and take off and fly, you had to be taught how to fly. Learning to fly is no different.

I can't stress this enough, please try and find an instructor.