Haha good point. I did forget the door handle.

Interesting question. I made it perfect at one point. I decided it really looked like I just copied the VW, so I went back and made it worse to make it look like I just didn't copy the bug. This is a rougher version of the perfect looking one I was working on. Do you think this shape is better?

https://image.ibb.co/gGHGLK/good_looking_bug.jpg

First time I thought something came out too good, and had to go back and mess it up.

Thx Denlig. I went ahead and changed it. I like this one too.

It was so fun to make. I love old air cooled VW's. I had a 1963 very very very rare VW Notchback - Rally Edition from Germany. I stripped it down to the floorpan, welded in a new floor pan, reworked and beefed the front end suspension, new gaskets for the fenders, built a custom motor with oversized pistons/cylinders (had to bore the block), cam, dual carbs, and spent 60 hours porting and polishing the heads. New window gaskets, all the lights, converted it from 6 to 12 volts and a whole lot of other things.

The car was in primer and before I painted it I took it for a test drive to the beach at night. Six months of hard labor was coming to fruition. So me and a bunch of people are hanging out at the beach checking out my new car when all of the sudden this drunk guy comes barreling down the coast highway and starts losing control of his car. BAM!!!!!! The #@$^$%#@##'r crashed right into my Notchback!! Totaled my new car. I was so much in shock I didn't even get mad.

So, after the insurance claim I found a 1965 Notchback and rebuilt it... End of story.

That was a terrible thing to happen. I hope the insurance paid well. At least you found another one to rebuild.

My very first car was a second hand VW. Can't remember the year model.

Thanks Still.

I liked making this one. It looks like I just copied the ladybug, but bending the parts around, doing the lighting, shading, brushing, and stuff was still challenging. The roof is a little flat, but the other parts are kinda realistically shaped.

I showed this one to my dad and he thought I only took the ladybug parts and overlayed them for color on top of the bug.

Oh, and mahalo.

Another member on this site gave me pointers like brushing out little scars on a face...small things that make the WORLD OF DIFFERENCE. Your work brings that point home to me.

Thanks Z!

Thanks for your comment. The shape on the hood was meant to be a decal i.e. part of the custom paint job, I am re-posting the pic with it made darker so as not to look like a shadow. I like your idea about the taxidermy animals on cars in Texas, maybe that would be a good idea for another contest. Could be hilarious.