JavaFX 2.0 :: How To Improve Application Startup

I have a UI that uses fx:include to include a handful of nodes in a StackPane.  So far I have less than 10 panes and I can already notice a delay of ~3 seconds (on an older machine) when the initial scene is built.  It's especially noticeable because I'm using a pre-loader with a progress bar.  The progress bar runs smoothly until the pre-loader calls start() on my application.  After that, the scene is built on the application thread, so the progress bar doesn't get any more updates.  It looks like the progress bar freezes until the main scene is built and shown.
 
I was hoping I could build the main scene on the JavaFX launcher thread, but that doesn't work.  I tried it and, not surprisingly, get an exception for not being on the application thread.  What are the options, if any, for making an application's start up feel a bit smoother?