We never reallyacheived perfect balance. We held the plane 2" from the leading edge of the wing, and moved the battery fwd to make it slightly nose heavy.We did this using our finger tips at the field. The instructions called for 20 deg. of throw but this made the plane too sensitive, so I went with 10 deg. and backed off on the expo so my "sticks" on the transmitter were not so sensitive.I rolled down 150' of asphalt and went through another 50' of grass I really wanted to build up some speed before I pulled up on the elevator. Also the model came with small diameter foam wheels. I replaced them with larger rubber wheels for better rollout. The damage is not to bad, this model is really tough, it will be in the air again! I will change out the crystal. Are you flying this weekend? Let me know how well it does.