little bit of history for you .

back in 94 i flew my first RC aircraft which was a trainer with an old futaba FM 4 channel radio had a grand old time at the flying field at the sepulvida basin in LA>

within a couple years I had moved up to a global American Flyer ARF that I custom covered with a TT pro 46. then moved on to a Global Avanger using the same engine but this model had retracts by this time I had bought a Futaba T6XA computer radio. I flew the American Flyer and avenger of and on till 2000 then ran into family problems and had to quit abruptly. now FF to today i only have the American Flyer plane with the T6XA radio. a worn out flight box as all these items had been in storage since 2000. I today took the TT pro .46 complety apart as the old prop on it wouldn't hardly turn gave it a soak in MEk, put it back together using liberal amounts of afterrun oil and wow its like new now as far as being able to spin freely etc. now here comes the questions. apart from doing the cleaning of the engine the old radio has its original battery which seems to work fine. I do not have a battery for the aircraft but will get one soon. looking at my old Topflight flight box I need a new power panel as the old one had problems when i last used it in 2000. ,my starter works great hooked up to the car so its still good. I need a new glow plug battery. i obviously need a gallon of fuel. (I'm getting to the question ) I did a check of the plane and even though it has a bit of wear and tear i hit it with the IRon and smoothed out the loose bits on the covering. checked all the bolts etc. so no prob. ok the question. assuming I get all the needed items to get this plane into the air. though I have years of flying exp should I do a first flight with a trainer or just go for it. on a related note do I need to re enlist in the AMA or take my chances on a first flight then get back into it. . family problems are all gone now and I really want to get back into the hobby. thanks.
Nathan.