Hi John
You may have issues with the InstallESD.
We have a proxy server and when building a base image of 10.7 with this straight away proxy comes up. This is trying to go to Apple.
I noticed when Installing 10.7 server from scratch from InstallESD on a usb key. It propped up with this then said Additional components failed to Install. The only way around it was to put the server on a non proxy network and do it again.
If you look inside the Install lion app and shared support folder you should also see the OSInstall.mpkg.
My guess is that if you try and make an os from the InstallESD, when installing, It looks for the OSInstall.mpkg and if its not there it downloads it from Apple.
