It's not that scale planes are so terribly hard to fly than it is that they are unforgiving of pranged landings and more difficult to repair and a scale Cessna is probably just as "boring" as a trainer. There's more to trainers than being easy to fly (do landings with), they are also designed to take the abuse of beginner's landings. Wait till you can do a "grease job" landing every time with your trainer before moving on to scale planes, even Cessnas or Cubs. Also, wait till you can do the pattern inverted with your trainer before you declare them boring.

Are airplane engines ringed? Some are but most 2-strokes in the .40 to .46 range are not. The OS .46 AX is not. The vast majority of 4-stroke engines are ringed. Most airplane engines outlast car engines because they don't rev as high, use lower nitro fuel, and airplane fuel has a higher oil content. Engines that run up in the sky also ingest a lot less dirt than buggie engines do.