I'm self taught as well, but I went through some planes in the process. As a kid I had to learn to fly at a field within walking distance from my house; getting an instructor just wasn't possible. Crashed a .25 sized Sureflite foam cub, a .40 size Flitecraft Solo 1 trainer, and a Cox Canario...I wasn't successful until mounting an .049 power pod on a Cox Eagle glider with a Hobbyshack glider wing (but still crashed it many times- it double it's weight in epoxy), then moved on to a Duraplane. We didn't have good sims back in the 80's though- take advantage of that new technology if possible. And, get the supercub like I said earlier. It costs more without an instructor, whether you pay up front in sims/easy to fly planes or in repair/replacement costs.