I'm far from finished attempting the various, discrete-component circuits. But, I have ordered one of these:

SMD Lightning detector board (eBay)

It should be here in a day or two. Which gives me plenty of time to continue building these "Copper nail" projects.
I'm now going to move on to some non-Techlib circuits...Let's see what happens. Will post Pics here, either way.

Here's a link to the next circuit I'm going to try:

http://www.electroschematics.com - lightning detector