I knew I should have posted this in the WIP section before deciding it's finished
I don't have time to do more work on it since I have tons of other projects but it's something to keep in mind for next time
doylle, I totally agree with you on the white lines... I shouldn't have made them so... white. I think that the problem is with the specular... When I textured those it looked nice but I forgot to check them after I made the render with specular and lights in the scene... so they look totally different from what I expected.
myles I noticed those the first time I rendered... and I did a lot of tests after that but somehow I wasn't bothered by it... I guess I like it because it makes the whole thing more dramatic and exaggerated. I like the "a storm is about to come" look also
but yeah... those are problems.