Not familiar with either of these, but just from the looks and the write up I would say the Pearl Harbor would be a handful and a half compared to your Firebird (I have a Fighterbird). It looks to be light and very manoueverable, meaning a bit of wind would get you learning foam repair quickly. The two you mention are different approaches to flight. The Soarer would be nice for relaxing, easy paced flight with no spectacular manouevers involved. The Pearl Harbor would be faster paced with lots of rolls and loops possible.

Check out the Hobby Lobby site http://www.hobby-lobby.com/

http://www.hobby-lobby.com/fokke3.htm Here's one the I think would work out nice, and may be in your budget?? (Last time I was in England it was 3.5 lbs to the dollar - I think we've caught up some since then).