My recommendation is go for it and have fun, if you make a mistake, learn from it and go on. Foam and balsa is cheap, mistakes can be fixed. My friend with the air powered vacuum pump has the Cuda with a FPE 3.2 & canister muffler, it's a good flying plane. We ever tried the air powered pump on his cores. The instructions provided with the Cuda will guide you along without any problem. Worst case, post another thread, good conversation, better than most of the posts here like, DA or 3W, Hitec vs JR.
Good Luck
Tony Hallo