check out my Cougar review for my tips.

main points.

tune the engine to run perfectly nose up. you need perfect midrange and pick up.
once you can keep the plane pointing upwards up high don't worry about letting it go downwind, your ready for step two, do it LOW! not 10' not 6' sub 3' the low height means if it does fall over you do very little damage.

for the rest check my cougar review