got my base image done. Wasnt quite as far as I wanted to take it, but again, impatience gets the better of me. Just went for a single render rather than a montage of several. Im a bit disappointed about that actually, as I was looking forward to zooming right in close and really working that detail, but fingers crossed I dont think its coming on too bad, so I'll plug away with this for a few days I think...

This is about 2200 x 1100, 300 dpi, pixel aspect yada yada(my new official word for it) of 1 (I think!)