RE: Improving Basic abilities???
CafeenMan is heading you in the right direction. You really MUST take each piece and practice it until you can do it precisely, every time, in any conditions (calm to gusty gales).
Start with straight and level flight. It's actually harder than you think to keep the plane straight and level, and the same distance from your edge of the runway consistently. Most people, even on calm days, may be able to keep it at the same altitude, but the natural tendency is to form an arc around yourself. ie. the further to the left or right you go, the closer you get to your side of the runway.
Once you have that down cold, you might try loops. Keep the diameter the same throughout the entire thing, come out the bottom at precisely the same altitude as you started your upline, keep wings level throughout. Points are deducted for visible corrections to level the wings for example.
I know pattern flyers who will spend an entire day working on one maneuver. Then they'll spend the next session incorporating it into one other maneuver with a "turnaround" at each end.
As CafeenMan said, it takes discipline, and LOTS of it.
Dennis-