Not sure what you mean.
you want to start from scratch with an image you already have... so if you have the image and you want to start from scratch, then you won't need your currant image anymore. I'm i misunderstanding something here.
Why not clone the drive?, I don't see why it wound't work out for you.
What you are stating in you original post is that you just want an image of an OS with drivers and programs installed already. well that's cloning.