I am new to the RC seen so I do not know the lingo or correct name for many things... please don't flame. A couple years ago, my grandfather gave me all of his RC stuff d/t his health. This includes boxes of extra balsa wood, at least 5 engines in various states of being "gummed" up (but can easily be cleaned), an old transmitter and receiver with servos from the 80's by the looks of it, misc parts, several fuel tanks, some covering, etc. Now the meat and potatoes of this gift includes:
[ul][*] A very nice home-made flight box with built in power panel and place for battery... much nicer than some I have seen advertised and carries everything![*] A Futaba Conquest FP-T6NFK (with receiver, batteries and several servos)[*] Begin-Aire sail plane x2... one built and one still in box. (flown with Cox Engine)[*] Gentle Lady 2 meter sail plane (flown with Cox Engine) <---This is the one I built with my grandfather and have flown many times.[*] Right Flyer 40T x2 (one that has seen many flights and the other hasn't flown yet)[*] Telemaster (not sure what model)[*] A smaller trainer much like the right flyers mentioned above[*] Sturdy Birdy (still in the box)
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I have another plane that I purchased from a flea market type store and will need to be recovered but is structurally sound. It is the the only style plane I have where the wing mounts under the body.

I recently got married (in september '07) and just finished college shortly before that. Now that things are settling down a bit, I finally have the time to get into all this! And now I have a large enough work area (my basement). With a little work, I have everything I need to get one into to air but I certainly do not want to jump the gun. I feel comfortable flying my Gentle Lady but don't want to mess with the cox engine I have mounted on it. I am wanting to go electric with my Gentle Lady and the Begin-Aire that I have d/t easy setup and no after flight clean-up from flying with gas. Since I have never flown a "powered" plane before, so I was wanting to get the Sturdy Birdy up and running as well. First question is, can I go electric with my two sail planes and use the same setup for the Sturdy Birdy? As far as the other planes go, I will most likely start out getting each one ready to fly with their own parts and brand-new engines because of the age of the other ones so I don't have to borrow anything from another plane and just switch out the receiver, battery and servos from plane to plane.

I haven't found any good resources on the web yet for building (ie tips and tricks, how to cover a plane, how to remove covering, repairing, etc) and other sites that will help me to learn what I am trying to talk about when I go to the hobby shop so I don't sound like a moron.

My grandpa can't get around like he used to and the internet seems like my best bet to start learning. There is a hobby shop about 40 miles away and a local RC club in the same town. I am interested in joining it but am a little nervous as I don't know what I am talking about or doing yet. Any advice or good web resources would be greatly appreciated!!! Thanks