The most difficult part of putting together an electric plane is choosing a power system that will fly the plane the way you like, and not burn itself up. Once you figure that out, there's not much else to do but charge and fly. No break-in, tuning, cleaning, and virtually no maintenance (especially with a brushless motor system).

Get some guidance in choosing the appropriate prop, motor (& gearbox if necessary), ESC, and battery pack, and invest in a Wattmeter to check your system. Many planes today even have recommended setups you can start with.

LiPo batteries are more sensitive to abuse than NiMH batteries are, but they're power density makes them well worth it. If your setup keeps the max current under limit of all your components, your ESC is setup with the proper voltage cutoff, and you have the proper charger/balancer, you will have no problems keeping your LiPos alive and well.

I'd recommend that you start with a small electric park flyer first, then when you get more familiar with electrics, you can invest in larger, more expensive setups with less risk of damaging the components.