Here's one other fun thing I can recommend - build a plane that you EXPECT to fly like an albatross. If it crashes, and you have to rebuild it, you know what it's like to crash. If you've NEVER crashed before, and you put something in the dirt, that feeling is over and done with. I've killed several planes already, and I feel SO much better now that it's happened.
I even built a flying pig once (and yes, it flew EXACTLY like a pig would - went up, did a little dance about 6 feet up, flew for about 15 seconds, and then spiraled down out of control). Was it meant to soar like a glider, or do acrobatics like a Sukhoi? HECK NO. It was meant to elicit laughs from everyone at the field. And it did JUST that.
My recommendation is to get out, build a Nutball, and try flying it. If it crashes (and it probably will; they're just barely aerodynamic enough to fly), you've gotten your expectation out of how the plane's going to react! It's all fun, and at the end of the day, if you're smiling and laughing about your flight, isn't that what it's about?