Yes scale helis look great and sims help. But if you are new to helis I would say start with a basic heli and then after you get the hang of it you can either put a scale fuselage on it or move into the heli you like. There are many company's out there today that offer a nice helicopters for a GREAT price. I started helicopters with a lite machines and crashed it ALOT and was very cheap to fix then I purchased a Century Hawk Sport for $150.00 brand new and I love it, I am not scared to crash it (knock on wood I have not yet) Because it was only 150.00 and it was ARF and I don't have a billion hours into building it. Simulators do help and are a great to learn and play with but I think the biggest problem with helicopters is getting over the fear of it crashing as with a simulator you do not have this problem. I found getting over the fear of crashing it is very stressful when you actually go and try to fly for your first few times.
