This is my latest work - a Mitsubishi Space Star (also marketed as Mitsubishi Mirage) modelled in Version 3.6.9.
It took me approximately 180 hours which spread over the course of 6 weeks (Blender, modelling only) as well as an additional 8 hours for tracing the side, front, back and top view (using Affinity Designer) which I used as reference images to create the general shape.
All details were built with eye measure from photos.
Most of the car is symmetrical, which means that only one half had to be built. I used the mirror modifier for almost everything as well as the subdivision modifier, shrinkwrap modifier (for the decals and the back lights) and array modifier (for the grille and for the heating lines in the back window, also for the wheel caps to an extent).
As mentioned above it took some hours to complete the work. One reason might be that the work process is much slower than anticipated, due to lack of knowing all the tricks and features.
My question to you is: Do you also spend so much time creating your work with Blender?
The result (for the upload I removed the number plates):
Holy shit I know nothing about blender but this is a seriously impressive model. 180 hours on anything is an accomplishment and this reflects all the time you spent on it, it looks perfect to my eye. My only question is why that car? I drove one of those as a rental car and it was without a doubt the worst vehicle I’ve ever driven. Either way the actual model looks stunning, congratulations on a job well done.
My only question is why that car?
I own this car. It was easy for me to get photos of various things that helped modelling the structure.
without a doubt the worst vehicle I’ve ever driven
I’ve driven worse. But I can see your point. Compared to other cars there is not much comfort in driving. You always have to account for the price this vehicle is being sold (for this model in particular the price for a brand new car was at 10.000 €, with the most basic trim an the basic 1-l-engine). However, my car even has AC (for overtaking another vehicle one needs to switch it off so you have more power to the engine) and electric windows (but no switch on the drivers side for the passenger door). And it has a real dashboard with the instruments on the drivers side behind the steering wheel and a glove box with lid on the passenger side. Most small cars have that weird arrangement where the instruments are located in the center console and just a shelf for a glove box. When I was in Bavaria with its hill topography I had to even shift into lower gears on the autobahn because the engine is so weak - a thing which todays cars is not usual anymore. But fuel consumption ( - 4.8 l/100 km or 49 MPG) as well as maintenance (no issues so far at - 120.000 km or 74564 miles) and taxation is very wallet friendly - and it beats walking!
That’s totally valid and I respect it, I was going long distances on American highways, I’m sure in Europe it’s a much more suitable vehicle. I also deeply relate to turning off the AC to overtake, my car has around 160 horsepower which might as well be nothing in the states. Much respect and again congrats on your hard work paying off.
I don’t have enough consistency to keep working on one project for that long.
I like doing short sprint projects to learn a lot of different things and retain more from different aproaches.
There’s this funny thing with Blender where you might learn a technique tomorrow that would have saved you hours on this project… But you didn’t know it, so you just had to do it the hard way.
That’s just the game. The important thing is that you did stick with it and got a good result. You’ll get faster the more you do it, and the more you compare approaches with others. But in the meantime, it’s rad that you stuck with it even through the parts that weren’t fast, or perhaps even fun.
What would you say were a few of the things that ate up the most of your time?
I start with the easiest part: The gas tank cap on the rear left side and the towing hook cap on the right front bumper. These parts were done surprisingly fast (15 min. each). Also the lock on the drivers door (5 min.).
Most tedious: the windshield wipers. Mostly because they were so small compared to the rest of the cars parts, which made it hard to navigate and zoom (already switched the units to millimeters, but still), and all three (2 in front, 1 in back) were individually shaped, so no mirror modifier could be applied). I just had to pull through during weekdays evenings. I would guess it took me 10 hours for all of them.
Medium: the front bumper with the fog lights and the lower grille as well as the upper grille: This took me a whole Saturday and Sunday; the upper grille was made during the weekdays - I would say 3 - 4 hours.
Hard: the inner structure of the front light. I had multiple photos of the light from top, side, front, etc. The main problem was that this thing is made of chrome (and plastic probably) which it made it hard to see the form/shape. And since everything else is made with eye measure, I had to alter the size and proportions to fit into the model. The problem was that when I (thought) I was finished, it stuck out of the side of the front glass cover. So I had to scale it down and had to re-arrange everything. I also made some simplicfications for the reflector. In the model it looks more like a disco ball. That is not the case with the real thing, but it was easier to merge a sphere with extruded lines to archive the relector-type appearence. See photos. This part took me the longest. I would guess it took the whole weekend (Saturday and Sunday) as well as some days during the week - approximately 25 - 30 hours.
To my eyes, that’s exceptionally well done. I can spend 18 hours on doing something 20 times worse, so I wouldn’t worry about the time it took - rather be impressed with yourself for your ability to stick with it until completion.
As others have said, you’ll learn tricks on the way, so if you make a second and third one, they’ll either be even better, or you’ll finish quicker (and if any bits are reusable with a copy/paste, significantly quicker).
All in all, this is excellent and you should feel proud of what you’ve achieved :)
impressive stuff!
I don’t think i have spent more than 20 hours on a project. Most of the time it’s less than 10. Of course the results are less impressive.
Those headlights are INSANE! Awesome job!
![A car [OC]](https://sh.itjust.works/pictrs/image/8d945433-47d2-4323-aa27-c3a1e39eae60.png){kind=link}