I second the above. You will find that if you join a club you will learn at a much faster and less frustrating pace.

As far as plane, if you want to get in the air fast then a ARF is good, if you want to build but leave the cutting (most of it) to someone else then a kit would be good. If you want to cut all the pieces and sand alot then built if from a plan.

Be sure to get a plane designed for training and someone to train you.

You are right that your full scale experience will not have much value when learning to fly a RC plane. The only advantage for you is that you understand aerodynamics and control surfaces and how the plane should respond but even some of that is different on a RC Plane.