Now that I have actually used the Tex Beetle for a while, I really like it the way it is.
Earlier, I thought it would be good to delete the top bezel, but after seeing the Beetle on my desk, I think the faceplate design looks really great -- especially the top bezel. So, keep the bezel, please.
I like the small spacebar; it responds more evenly than a longer spacebar, and the correspondingly smaller stabilizer diminishes "spacebar rattle". The Beetle's spacebar is the best I have encountered.
Definitely keep the dedicated arrow keys.
About the only issue I have with the Beetle is that the 1x right-shift key is a bit too small, and the slightly displaced z-row staggering sometimes throws me off. One way to deal with this is to add a column of keys on the far right-hand side of the board. The arrow cluster could then be shifted to the right. This would enable the z-row staggering to be normal, and it would provide for a larger right-shift key. In addition to housing the right-arrow key, the new column would have room for four other keys, e.g., Home, End, PgUp, and PgDn. This proposed design would also enable the bottom row modifiers to be larger. The result would be similar to the Leopold FC660M or FC660C, with two additional keys in the far-right column.