Electric won't always be more expensive in all cases, my foamy setup including a charger is cheaper than a good F40 setup, and will take as many crashes as you can dish out, provided you have some glue Maybe look into a R3d or other epp planes, they are pretty much indestructable, and even if you do rip them, its an easy fix...

I flew Realflight G2 for over a year before flying my first plane, if you don't keep flying, just keep at the sim and you'll be fine...