"You want to improve the human species through direct genetic manipulation of individuals, not through the more classic (and fascist) method of eugenic breeding programs - but so the improvements breed true in the usual way. You see this occurring mostly in privately funded private labs..."

I'm a big proponent of transgenics, the recombining of DNA from different species, and classic breeding (eugenics) programs couldn't accomplish this. Only direct germline engineering can create a transgenic organism. And yes most of this research is done by private institutions. Companies like Celera, Amgen, ACT, Geron and literally thousands of others world wide, are doing the basic research that will make such work possible. Once the basic fundamentals of genetics are understood, within the next 50 years, life will become like clay for us to mold any way we choose. And just think, a fully "tricked out" lab as you put it, only cost several million dollars. For the money Tom and them spent on the Rotary Rocket project, an individual could have a lab that would be the envy of any goverment facility. And there are millions of people with that kind of cash, I'm sure that at least a few would be receptive to the idea.

"Uh huh... and when the first new models roll off the assembly line and into the light of day - what then? Instant acceptance into the Brotherhood of Man? Or perhaps you mean for the new species to supplant/supercede/rule over the old? More likely than not, they'll be greeted by whatever's the local equivalent of villagers with torches and pitchforks."

Well after the first new models role out into the light of day, it'll be too late. It would be considered murder for anyone to kill them. They'd be granted the same protections under the law as any other person. How may villagers with pitchforks came out after in vitro children were announced to the world? And how will people react within the next several months as the first Human clones are born?