I need some help.

I'm trying to teach my brother how to fly his recently purchased Hobbico NexSTAR. But we are having major issues.
1. The first flight had all the hardware on it (speed brakes, stall gates). And it took major down trim to get it to level out. Even at minimum flying speed,
it needed alot of down trim.
2. So for the second flight, I decided to take the hardware (speed brakes, stall gates) off the wing and fly it like a normal trainer. But it had flown so
aweful. It was like we could never get it trimmed to fly properly. It was a bear to land. So we grounded it for the day.
3. So we put the hardware back on according to the instruction manual. We then checked the radio, the control throws, & the CG. We then tried to fly it again.
This time, after rotating on take off it cartwheeled into the ground and snapped the fuse in half at the first bulkhead after the engine mounting bulkhead.

So I'm thinking this
1. The engine torqued it over? "No" The engine is is offset to compensate for the torque. And it's a tri-gear, which isn't effected as badly as a taildragger.
2. Was it a stall? "No" We had plenty of airspeed on the SupreTiger 51. In fact, I have the same engine set up on my Aerobat which flys awesome.
3. Was it a radio hit? I don't think so. We were the only ones at the field.

So I'm stumped here. What's your thoughts? Is this a bad plane? It looked nice and straight before we flew it.
No, we did'nt use the ATF on this plane.

Thanks for your thoughts,
Tim