I figured I would get the instructor comments again. Yes I know that an instructor would be a lot easier, but for many reasons I haven't chosen to do it that way, at least for now.

That said, I learned from my aileron mistake and now use a exhaustive checklist, and now that the control surfaces all work I was able to have a successful solo flight despite a very tail heavy airplane that was not flying correctly.

Now I am leaning about setup. Time to make up another checklist. Here is what I have so far:

Center of gravity: Balance the airplane so that the nose is slightly lower than the tail.
Incidence: Should be 0/0.
Engine thrust: Not sure how to check this.

Thanks to those who provided setup feedback. Also, can anyone recommend any good books that cover the setup and balancing of a model before the first flight? I have several magazines and books and have read a bit online, but I haven't found a resource that covers setup in great detail.