I finished my Tempest and it came out very tail heavy (if I would have tried to fly it without adding nose weight it probably wouldn't have had a second one).  I used urethane clear and was wondering if I sanded some of the clear off of the tail so I could maybe take some of the nose weight out would the clear buff back up (I've heard urethane gets very hard to buff after a while)?

James

James,
I really think that you are pressing your luck to try to remove weight by sanding the tail, unless you are willing to sand a LOT off and possibly end up refinishing. You would likely need to use 600 grit to remove any weight, and at that point it would be very difficult to sand again with finer grit and polish it.
How many coats of clear did you put on it?

Mark,

If memory serves I put on 2 lite coats.  The plane seems to fly well so far but had to put about 4 ounces into the nose .

James

If total weight of the plane is exceptable, don't worry about adding nose weight.  That can change after you fly it and see how it reacts.   

I have already added the nose weight, otherwise it would probably have been a pile of splinters.  It seems to fly well so far, haven't really stressed it much at this point.  I did find a stress crack a couple of inches in front of the stab so that had to be repaired.

James