I understand exactly where you are coming from, as I had that same trouble when I was starting. Between family commitments, weather, and access to a trainer, I was looking at 3 weeks between lessons. At our field, training days were sunday afternoons, with a pretty tight time margin. When I was starting there was 5 other guys as well, all qued up around poor Bob, who had to deal with all of us newbies.

What I did was explained my situation to Bob, and since I had a fairly good feel for things, we both took an afternoon off, and did what Minn Flyer suggested, four full flights of touch and goes. At the end of the afternoon, Bob said that he felt comfortable that I was safe, and I soled that weekend.

Let me tell you though, that first time all by myself was pretty nerve racking, after I took off and landed successfully I was jumping up and down and yelling with joy!

On the takeoff thing ... think smooth, let the plane get up to speed, be prepared to compensate with rudder, and don't force it off the ground. I love the look of scale takeoffs, and if you keep things straight and have enough speed, a little up elevator and it is in the bag!

For landing, HarryC really helped me out walking me through the theory on the forum. Throttle=altitude, Elevator=speed. Slow that trainer down, if you don't, it will bounce and roll and tumble down the runway. I see so many (not so newby) pilots fly it to the ground and force it down with elevator. Like mentioned before, slow the model down by applying up elevator, and when you get a foot off the ground, use up elevator to try and keep it airborne. The result ... a smooth bounceless landing.

Good luck ... Bo