Well, after months of work, several prototypes and a near divorce experience I have finally half finished "Big Red". Now he's looking presentable I have persuaded him to model for a couple of pics.
He is currently sporting 8 Opnext HL6545MG diodes running at 230mA per diode and at 5.04v produces 1300mW with a 3mm beam and under 1.6mrad divergence, and he loves Robin Bowden's Die4Drive drivers (thanks for all your help Robin )
He is only half finished. Opposite his current array he'll be getting another 8 diodes and will end up pushing almost double that out of the business end. More pictures to follow as he evolves.
Beam spot pic @ 27m:
Inside: