While you're working up the "kit", take a few minutes at the LHS and look through their books. There are a couple that really cover a lot of the details that're worth knowing early on. And they're details that you're not usually going to get with "first advice", like.........

Setup that radio with some exponential. You'll be glad you did. Exponential gives you a couple of things. It makes the airplane feel less twitchy, quick, sensitive around neutral. It actually makes flying the airplane easier to do smoothly too. And when you're beginning, it's helpful to have the stick movement be less quick around neutral. And when you're experienced, it's helpful to have the stick movement be more accurate around neutral. Exponential gives you all that. Try it, you'll be glad you did.

As for the G3 simulator..... great idea..... really great idea. Plus it's fun as heck. After you get it, go to the Great Planes website and look around for the upgrades. I think they're actually over at Knife Edge, but wherever they are, get the latest. They fix some things and add some. And the Interlink Controller is good to have. You don't use your TX up, nor constantly need to recharge it. And the sim's controller is made by Futaba. I'm presently flying an Ultimate and have painted the sim's Ultimate to look just like mine. And have tweaked the sim's to fly like mine. Matter of fact, I did the tweaking right after the first flights, have since tuned the model a bit, and just now have noticed that I need to re-tweak the sim to match the latest model trimming. How's that for accuracy.....