I soloed full scale in a Cessna 150 with about 8 hours of instruction (at age 19). I loged about 200 hours including some IFR and aerobatic training before work, family, and finances forced me to quit. I soloed RC after about 6 months of instruction (at age 45). I think my RC instruction time was greater than 9 hours and I was no better a student than someone without full-scale experience. I had problems with orientation and the lack of seat-of-the-pants feedback, and no airspeed indicator, altimeter, RPM, etc.

Once soloed, I think I progressed more quickly than the average RCer without full scale experience. I probably understand aerodynamics and the use of the controls better than most RC-only pilots because of my full-scale experience. I think RC-only pilots would benefit from reading through a full scale flight instruction manual or taking a private pilot course at the local airport.

So there's my 2 cents.