First off, that is a good looking N-27. I have a 1/4 scale N-17 myself. Speaking as someone who just pulled a kilogram of lead off of a 1/4 scale Camel, I can say that it is easy to get tunnel vision when chasing that last centimetre on the CG. We all get accustomed to the mantra that WWI airplanes are tail heavy and that is not without its merits but I concur with the thought that the airplane is nose heavy. I hope your nose weight is easily removable. In my case it was chunks of lead bolted to baffles under the cowl. I would say that the plan to incrementally remove small amounts of nose weight is the way to go. As you can see we all have our opinions but I would really like to hear how it turns out.