Just seen this WIP (only cause u told me about it :p)...
John, your really doing a gr8 job with this. keep at it and work out those tiny kinks.
Keep at it and I would render with HDRI and Final Gather (MR) m8.
the occusion render loooks nice 
Chris (formerly R@nSiD)
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Winner SM VFX Challenge 1
3rd Place SM SteamPunk Challenge (May 2007)