Keep your confidence up that was my first plane too. My family not knowing really anything from planes kinda destroyed my plane when i first took it out. I told them to launch it straight and they threw it straight into the ground. For hand launching heres what works for me. I put it on full throttle i keep everything straight no trim nothing just straight control surfaces if you just launch it a little bit pointing up then you will be fine. Then you can control it from there. About landing come into the wind nice and steady then once your about to hit the ground(while keeping motor on low power) pull up almost like a stall and land.
Heres a site for you for replacement parts. They sell stuff cheaper here i dont know why i have ordered from them and they arent a bad company.
http://www.wholesaletrains.com/
Good luck.