Landing the Q400 by hand?

I have been practicing hand-landing the Q400 by hand using FSInstantApproach (which allows setting up a starting position relative to the airport). I find it very difficult without the autopilot. It is like trying to fly a slippery bar of soap along the slope of a bathtub - the plane requires constant correction, keeps changing orientation  and it is very difficult to keep the wings level. If I glance at the  flight display for a second, when my eyes come back to the windscreen, the plane has likely tilted by 30 degrees. The rate of descent is also irregular - sometimes I am too high and have to push hard to lose altitude, other times it is the opposite. I usually end up landing on one wheel. I usually start at around 6 miles without flaps at 160 knots and do not use anything but the joystick, throttle and flaps. I have set  the turbulence factor to 0 (I don't rememver exactly how I did that , so it should not be turbulence - weather is no wind and clear). I would summarize it by saying that the plane seems unstable, so the slightest deviation tends to amplify itself.

Am I missing something or is the real aircraft this difficult to control, making the usual  "properly trimmed and lined up" almost meaningless. I don't mess with the FMC at all , I just start the engines and go. Sure I could use the autopilot for instance to control the rate of descent, but one should be able to land without any autopilot, no?

Henri