All great advice here, but definitely, the best is: *don't give up*
I quickly discovered this hobby was all about overcoming engineering deficiencies or pilot deficiencies. My first RC aircraft was a ParkZone UMX Champ RTF that I thought would be a great trainer. I watched the Flite Test Beginner series, and followed *some* of the advice. My first take off, on wheels in a tree lined park on a windy day... ended successfully! I only took off about 6 inches and landed immediately like Josh Bixler recommended for the first flight. I got overzealous with that success and decided to take off for a loop around the park, only to have the wind take my lovely micro yellow champ into the high branches of a large pine tree.
I didn't have the guts to try scratch building then, and didn't have the basic build tools either. So, my next investment was a RTF Delta Ray. That was much more successful a platform, but I learned from my first plane that I needed more space, and less wind. I also had invested time in a free simulator. My first flight was successful, but my landing was not. I hadn't learned the lesson about planning/visualizing your air space, flight patterns, and landing approach/pattern. I had to guess at where to land, and ran out of runway, but was lucky to have a chain-link fence act as an arresting net. Only, I came in hot enough that the nose fell off.
Now I had to learn how to make repairs.
At this point, I was getting discouraged with fixed wing flight, so I ordered a coaxial heli (MCX2) that was compatible with all the RTF TX's I had lying around (the toy one that came with the Champ, and the DX4e with the Delta Ray). Unfortunately, it failed out of the box with a stuck servo on the brick. Horizon Hobby was great, and sent a replacement board. Now I had more practice with repairing/replacing tiny parts. Turned out that, in the process of removing the old board, I must have freed up whatever was binding the servo (linear kind) and it actually now works (but is a spare part).
Fast forward (I started down this adventure in October 2013) to now, and my first build was the FT-22, and this past weekend, I flew my newly built VersaWing (with FPV intentions).
I've learned a lot, and shed a lot of dollars. Despite the expense, I really love this hobby. Both my FT builds flew great, with no TX trims necessary. I really love how they handle as well -- though they are very similar in characteristics.
Here's what I learned about both FT-22 and VersaWing that I haven't seen you mention in terms of setup:
Both of mine have a lot of up elevator deflection (more than I was comfortable with despite the advice from J.Bixler in the build videos). This turned out *perfect* -- again, I needed no TX trim on the elevators. I built my Versa as a pusher with the EMAX 1487KV motor they recommended as "the beef" option with an 8x4 prop. It needed A LOT of nose weight, even if I mount a camera on the nose (Mobius actioncam) -- over 100g without the camera, and with a 2200 mAh battery.
I never launch with over 75% throttle. The FT-22 almost flies out of my hands with the Blue Wonder motor and 8x6 prop. I like launching the VersaWing with an overhead launch, where I hold it near the nose and windmill my arm up and over my head, releasing just as my arm reaches vertical.
I have a few videos uploaded to youtube to show all my launches and even with the versa, how I test flew it initially to check the CG and control surface throws:
http://www.youtube.com/user/mak8tack/videos
Oh, one thing that almost bit me after I built the FT-22: that was my first time with a new RX that wasn't setup like a BNF or RTF. I had just watched the video a week before from the Flite Test guys about checking the control surfaces with your TX over the plane to make sure the rudder, elevators, ailerons work in the expected directions. Well, I had also watched the elevon mixing video (necessary for the FT-22) and had missed the bits about verifying the control surfaces were correct based on the input from the TX. I had just charged the battery and was going to take it out, when I decided to check, and sure enough, the elevator channel in the elevon mix was reversed! If I had pulled up elevator, I would have gotten down elevator! That would have resulted in a nice lawn dart if I didn't catch that!
Good luck with your continued perseverance in this rewarding (eventually) hobby!
To me clearwater and st pete are on the other side of the bridge that take a long time to get to. I just fly in my community center's grounds, right next to the tennis courts.
