ORIGINAL: AstroDad
I think my main complaint is that my Strega just does not slow down as quickly as I would like when the engine is idling and am descending into land.
It seems like if I am bringing in on a gentle descent then its speed is so fast that it is more willing to keep flying than actually land. To land it I kind of have to get it down a couple feet above the very beginning of the runway and then hold it level for a 200 feet or so before it slows down enough to land and stay on the ground.
You basically stated what your difficulty is. You're flying too fast. What you need to do is get some altitude and play with airspeeds. Fly the model as slowly as possible so that you can learn the attitudes, control positions, and handling characteristics of your model. Once you find out slowly it can fly, you can then use that knowledge to increase the speed slightly to give you a bit more margin over the stall and learn to do your landing approaches at that speed.
Most R/C flyers just approach and land too fast. What is a good practice is to find out what speed is good and then find out if a trim setting will give it to you. I used to have a model that would set up a perfect approach speed when I rolled in full "up" elevator trim. I'd retard the throttle, and as the model slowed down, slowly roll in full "up" trim. Then I'd mainly use throttle to keep the approach angle as I wanted. For that airplane, it worked out very well. Other models needed more or less trim. It's a "find and see" type of thing. Regardless, you need to learn to use a slower approach speed. Once you've achieved that, you'll find that your model will set down quite close to the point where you round out into the landing flare.