I ended up doing a little cut & paste on tpl_product_info_display.php

in place of the spacers (br tags) located just aft of
Code:
//########## Tabbed Lite Message##########
//#
//# Added these br tags here to shift ...#########
<br /><br /><br /><br />
I pasted the
Code:
<!--bof Additional Product Images -->
blah...blah...blah
<!--eof Additional Product Images -->
and after some additional moving around of other
<!--bof xxxx -->
blah...blah...blah
<!--eof xxxx -->

it worked out great

additional hint: if using IH2 - and you want the additional images to align evenly take advanage of the IH 'canvas' function by sizing 'small' images in admin/config/images with a ! and choose a background color, for example Small Image Width 100! Small Image Height 100! IH small image background 227:227:227 - this will put small images centered in the background, making them align...

I still have a bit more space above the tabs (below additional images) than I would like, and I can't figure out how to make the tabs text bold - would appreciate suggestions.