What to buy first...or in what order?

[travicopter]

I am pretty sure this has been asked and opined on before but after many hours of surfing I can't really find the answer to my specific question.

I am relatively certain the setup that I want to buy to get into the hobby so I mean to ask this question independant of helo/tx/rx/gyro/etc.

I would rather stick to a budget but don't want to save for months to buy the whole shebang at once, so what comes first? (BTW, I already have a sim...). Do I get the helo and spend a fair amount of time learning it and building it deliberately and correctly then add the tx and serovos, then the engine, etc...or should I buy a Tx and use it with my sim for a while, thus learning what pitch/throttle curves and expo and dual rates do exactly (granted, on a sim)?

I'd appreciate any advice. I don't exactly have $$$$ to burn but enough that I would like to get started.

Thanks,
Travis.-

[BarracudaHockey]

Installing the engine and servos is really an integral part of the build process so I would the whole thing, in reality you can put a 50 size helicopter together in a few nights or 1 day so I'm not sure how long you can draw out the build even if you tried more than a week or two. I can tell you this, if you dont have enough money for what you need to get in the air PLUS enough for parts for your first crash or two, then save your money because you will end up with nothing but frustration.