I'm another pilot who followed a similar path. I trained on a Nexstar and then flew both an Easy Sport 40 (basically a stik with a canopy stuck to the wing) and a Thunder Tiger Tiger Stik .40 once I solo'd.

The biggest difference I found between my trainer and my Easy Sport/Tiger Stik was the elevator authority. Stiks have a lot more elevator control than trainers do; so much so that I had a hard time not putting my Easy Sport into an outside loop when I was first learning to fly inverted.

Your Big Stik will fly better in windy conditions than your trainer did, but will slow down and land as gently as any trainer. It's the perfect choice for a second plane and you should have a lot of fun with it.

As for the quality of your Chinese trainer, well, first trainers are kind of meant to be accidentally crashed into stuff anyway. I think you might be able to find a Thunder Tiger Pegasus, Tiger Trainer, or Easy Trainer to replace your crashed airframe. Thunder Tiger makes high quality ARFs with good hardware, and they enjoy good worldwide distribution as well. A World Models Skyraider Mach I would be a good quality trainer at a fair price, as well.

Good luck with the Big Stik, I'm looking forward to reading about your first flights with your new toy. Remember to take it easy on the throttle for a while! That .55 AX will pull your Big Stik around so fast at full throttle that it will whistle a bit moving through the air.