Well, at this point I'm not going to change anything... because it's all working well. Maybe next time!
I think the vibration thing is working because the vibration feels like that of a .25 glow engine, so I'm satisfied with it. Could I have done better? Hmmm....
The goal was to stuff all the propulsion-related items as far forward as possible to leave the area around CG open for the A/V payload, so shortening the nose was not an option. You can see from the photos that I managed to get the gas tank, ignition, ign switch and recharge harness, 3850 mah ign battery, 5-volt regulator pretty far forward. Only a small portion of the tank protrudes beyond the former.
I would have put the throttle servo up there if I could have crammed it in. But in order to preserve that space around the CG, I decided to move it pretty far back. Works fine there.
Now if I can just get the A/V stuff to balance on CG.