Thanks for jumping in Matt. I flew a heavy plane earlier this year, my first heavy plane in quite a while, and had lots of the same kind of problems you describe. Had elevator throws too high (even though I thought they were quite moderate), too tailheavy (35% MAC, which usually works well for me). The thing snapped on takeoff with only maybe 25' altitude, and it was all I could do to catch it and keep it off the ground. The rest of the flight was hardly better, snapped again at ~100', I would catch it and it would snap again, etc. Hairiest flight of the year. Got it back down in one piece, but have retired it after fiddling with it a few more times. Life is too short to fly heavy models.

I still have a DB kit, still think I'd like to build it one of these days. I'll stick this note in the box to remind myself how to set it up.