To be honest, Tim, I think you (and, dare I say it, perhaps I) could get very close indeed to those standards - if we were prepared to put in hundreds and hundreds of hours on a single figure. The brush control is there, the knowledge of the techniques is too - it's just we're neither of us prepared to put in the ridiculous amount of work required to achieve that standard! I certainly look at my own work and know where I could further refine it, but I'm just perfectly happy to continue improving, model by model, not seeking perfection here and now.
And I must say your idea of 'tabletop standard' is waaay beyond what most people would consider tabletop standard!