Look at something bigger, faster, heavier, and more complicated (flaps and retracts)
Since you don't really need to worry about tailwheel experience, something like a loaded T-34 or T-28 will help you on your way. (heavier is better, you don't want a floater) EDIT :Twins can be good because of the extra built in stress factor. Seriously, something like a hobbico twinstar can help. They are fast, have small fuel tanks, handle like a much larger plane (surprisingly) and have a very high sink rate without power. But you would still want to move to something with retracts and flaps afterwards...............

For practice, if you have a radio with a servo slow feature (like the JR 9303), you can slow the throttle servo so that it takes 2-3 seconds to go from idle to full throttle, and vice versa.
Then when you can handle that, raise your idle speed to twice the normal RPM..this will give you a feel for residual thrust.
And finally, only put 6 minutes worth of fuel in it, and then set your timer for 5 minutes.

That should get you close...