RE: landing a Great Plane Shoestring
As far as telling if its nose heavy using a steep turn and seeing if the nose drops has nothing to do with nose heavieness. It is purely a function of lift. When I said it is a slick plane that has nothing to do with top speed, it has quite a bit less parasitic drag than your average sport plane so will be a little harder to slow down. As for being afraid of turns, you should always be careful of turns until you learn how it reacts to varying degrees of bank while maintaining altitude. Yes learn to use trim, find a good safe slow speed and trim for it for landing. this will allow you to make a good stable approach. Unless you are very confident in your engine I would avoid dragging it in with power.