What I meant to ask is if I added too much weight to mess with it's trainer characteristics.

I seriously doubt the plane is too heavy. If the advertised specs are correct, then the Dolphin has a wing area and overall wing loaded right in between that of a Sig 4-star and a Goldberg Tiger-2. It should slow down and land very nice. Even the addition of different gear, glue from repairs and other stuff shouldn't hurt it too bad.

The GP Cherokee has a little less wing area and weighs more but it still lands nice, easy and pretty slow. Heck, My kit built GP Super Sportster 60 is a porker compared to modern ARF's. It has a wing area not much bigger than the Dolphin but weighs considerably more. It still has great low speed characteristics and lands nicely.

What is your plane doing at low speed? Nose dropping rapidly? Nose up (ballooning)? You may have a CG problem. Start with what the manual says but don't trust it. The technical information that comes with the no-name ARF's is very suspect. It should glide in at idle just fine unless you have a really strong headwind.

I'll check the CG again. My instructor had me balance it so that it requires about 1/4 to 1/3 down elevator to fly inverted. At idle speed it doesn't really do anything funny other than not fly. It takes a lot of elevator to keep it in the air, and still descends rapidly. From what I recall, flying downwind leg (with no wind) at two clicks above idle (just to see what was happening) needed a bunch of elevator, and the plane was a bit nose up. Roll rate was very slow and mushy, and I had to be careful to keep the plane level. But this is exactly what I had expected.

Sorry if I'm not clear enough about stuff, I'm still learning this plane (20 flights?) What was happening was that I was coming in 3 or 4 clicks above idle. I didn't think there was any problem until the club president told me I need to learn how to land it slower. Anyway I'd come in at 3 or 4 clicks above idle, and hit idle when I wanted to set it down, and it would set right down, but definitely needed some room on the ground to slow down. Now that I think about it I guess I did have a hard time in that I had to take a few approaches so as not to overshoot the runway. So I was told to learn the descent rate, which is why I've been flying as slow as I can, to try to learn the planes behavior at low throttle. Felt like I was getting it until this whole stall/hit episode happened. I had a bunch of landings, with a decent descent rate, plopping the plane on the ground in the first 1/4 runway, and it stopping within 20 feet or so. But just when I got to the point of doing that comfortably my plane went wild on me.

This is what made me think I was hit. I flew a bunch of touch-and-go flights, with enough speed for take-off, then right back down to a couple of clicks above idle, and flew the pattern just fast enough to stay airborne. I felt very comfortable controlling the plane, as it was predictable - it did exactly what I expected it to do at such low power settings. I don't recall feeling any wind gust, especially something to cause a change in the plane's attitude, but maybe it doesn't take much, or maybe it was up high enough for me not to feel it. Regardless, the plane became unpredictable and completely out of control.

My idle is just fast enough to keep the engine from stalling, which I assume is correct. There is quite a noticeable jump in RPM between each click. I'm flying with an 11x5 mas prop.

On the receiver issue, I understand I should have it checked. Is there a need to check the servos, too, or is that something I or someone at the club can do?

On your approach, keep the nose down slightly to maintain airspeed and keep the wing flying. On a calm day or in very light winds you should be able to do this at idle. On windy days you may need to carry a little throttle depending on the plane. Rotate the plane to level a few feet off the ground and GENTLY feed in up elevator as needed to keep it level until it touches down. To avoid it bouncing back up, release the elevator just before the wheels touch. It will roll out on the mains for a ways then drop the tail. Then hold up elevator to keep the tail planted and taxi back to you.

Idle speed should be a nice smooth RPM with no indication of the engine quitting. It shouldn't be so high though that the plane starts rolling away at idle. I fly off of pavement and I like my planes to sit still at idle or roll forward slowly. The type of prop has a lot to do with this too. Some make a lot of thrust at low speed and keeping the plane still may be impossible. Your 11x5 should be perfect for the engine and plane though. You should have a nice, reliable idle.

Should you have servos checked out? I say no, at least for most sport servos. It is easy to determine if you physically damaged or stripped a servo though. The only thing you can't detect it damage to the electronics. If there is really any doubt about a servo, just buy a new one. Paying postage and labor to have it checked will cost much more than most new standard sport servos. Receivers are a different story... checking them out (or replacing them) is mandatory.

I stalled the minnow one time coming in or a landing. I chopped the throttle and was trying to float it in from to far out. Got down to about 10 or 15 feet off the ground and no control surfaces were responding. It was drifting down and towards a pavilion. I just gave her full throttle and then was able to turn it to open field and get back up in the air. That was the first time I experienced that. I makke sure I keep the airspeed up a lil now when coming in.

i usually land my 4* with no throttle. I also have the plane trimmed to fly pretty much hands free. When there is no wind, it flies steady and straight with no hands.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpXWc0pAayI here's a video.... sorry the cameraman couldn't keep the camera steady.... you can see how I usually land.