I've been wanting to fly RC craft since I was about 6 years old. Now I'm in my late 30's and I've finally got the chance

Here's my "dilema": My father-in-law is a major aviation buff - he's in the process of building his own EAA, 2 seater plane. He had a couple of things hanging around the garage that he decided were just collecting dust and I'd have much more fun with them: The 1st toy is a Hirobo Shuttle Heli (older style; ~10 years old) complete with all servos, gyro, .30-.40 glow plug engine (not sure which size; the plate is hidden behind structure) with a Futaba FG series 7 channel radio with receiver, flight battery, chargers, starters, - basically EVERYTHING I need. The Heli is in good shape and I've plugged up the servos and tested them; the servos are Futaba FS128s (4 of them + 1 spare). The craft is even in pretty good cosmetic condition (a few scuffs and dings, but nothing serious).

The 2nd "gift" is a Sr. Falcon 69" WS, .61 glow engine. It's on it's 3rd wing (this one is a foam core wing), but the control rods move smoothly and everything is in order. It's got the standard throttle, aileron, rudder, and elevator control (4 servos req'd). I'm not in a position to buy more servos at this point and I found out that when he wanted to fly the plane, he would just strip the servos and electronics from the Heli and bolt them in so the Futaba servos apparently will do the trick on this plane. The Tx/Rx can (obviously) be reused for the plane. The engine, prop, etc... look to be in good shape too, but I havent' spun it up yet.

I have absolutely NO RC flight experience and experienced fliers willing to take the time to train you here in my area of South Georgia are about as close to zero as you can get. I've got some "real" flight experience (I spend 2 years building FAA level C and level D simulators for Gulfstream, Citations, MD-80's, and various other aircraft) so I know a fair amount about basic flight information, controls, etc... I've even spent a little while behind the stick in a Cessna. So lately, I've been voraciously reading the FAA Basic Flight Instruction Manual, downloading old instruction manuals, reading magazines, everything I can find on the web related to "basic tips", and studying a whole lot about how the Tx controls' input reacts to the craft. The Sr. Falcon has a symetrical wing, so it should be a little familar to me in terms of controlling the aileron/elevator when initiating a course change.

I love the way Heli's fly, but I'm not so naive to even dream that these are CLOSE to easy to fly. I don't want to wind up with a pair of snapped blades on the 1st time I crank the engine...

Should I just pull all the electronics from the Heli, mount them into the big Sr.Falcon and start my flying adventures the "smart" way > ie: flying something easy > I've heard that the old Falcons like this one are so easy to fly that you almost have to work at it to crash it (like holding down the aileron and wondering why it's spiraling into the earth instead of turning!)

What do you guys think? I'll upload a pair of pics of my "toys" to see what you think. If you recognize the model of Heli or know anything about it, please let me know.

Also any "extra" equipment that I'll need to keep the nose from turning into a roto-rooter is advice well given.