Ok, here’s the question, why are panel lines filed in on aircraft models? I personally think it looks good on some planes but others it looks way overdone or very “fake”. Looking at real aircraft the panels do not produce a shadow or have obvious depth to them. I notice a lot of post where people submit pictures of their finished plane and there is always people saying that the panel lines need done, when in fact the plane looks perfectly fine with out. Just looking for some feed back, I have done planes both with the panel lines done and some without so this is not meant to be an attack on the people that do panel lines on all there aircraft.
It’s a matter of personal preference, so whatever you prefer. I consider my models as sorta 3D Profiles so enhancing panel lines is an effect I like. To others, it may be a low key form of weathering. You are correct that panel lines on real AC are not all that visible, but it is Modeling License to enhance them. A painted model with no enhancement looks kinda bland to me, but may look just right to others. Build the way you like and don’t get all concerned about how others build or what they like.
I perfer a subtle approach. When I apply a wash, I mix the base color with black until I reach a shade that matches the shadows seen on the model under a light. What I try to recreate is a shadow, which is the color minus light. When the effect is prominent, my attention is distracted from the model and concentrated on the lines. To my eyes, dark washes and pre-shading look out of scale. I try to match what I see in a photo of the real aircraft, rather than create an effect. Its just the way I prefer to do mine.
[bow]…sorry to chop up your comment rjk…but, you said it all…it’s a personal & private hobby that we share pubically our opinions, experiences and completed work…[2c][yeah]
Doug ???..to each his/her own:
are you looking for authentic ?..or accurate ???..or personal satisfaction ???..or…or.
and who’s to say what’s any of those but, your own motivations and maybe that’s not a shareable entity…
remember we’re SCALE modelers…
my experience and skewed observations around corporate aircraft are that no panel lines are visible or rarely so…around comtemporary military aircraft and depending on the distance to the subject…some panel lines are visible…around WW II military combat aircraft…i was never there so i’ve no clue[;)]
depending on the subject i’m slamming together…if i do panel lines i try to do them with washes that represent the viewable scale distance…if that is at all possible and then let the world of opinion express themselves…
whatever you do…do it well and do it for yourself and if you decide to share it…be proud and let 'em all eat fishheads if they don’t like it…nya nya nya…
but, always…
enjoy yourself…
These days, I tend to agree for the most part…panel lines are not so pronounced on the real thing. My more recent models have vey subtle panel detail if at all and the models look great. When behind the lens of my 35mm camera the models look far more realistic. I must admit, I am always tempted to shade in the panel lines, but more and more I’ve left them alone.
On natural metal planes, and to a more subtle degree on painted ones, each and every panel has a different shade or reflectance from the adjacent panels. Just paint a large natural metal plane all metalizer aluminum and then decal it. Then compare it to a photo of the real thing. So it’s not a matter of depth of the lines. It’s a matter of making one panel unique from another that gives realism.
on the panel lines I’ve found out, by working on the real ones there are some panel line more prominate then others, the reason is from maintenance, some panels are opened more the others and the paint chips off of the sealent that was used to seal the panel when being manufactured, on most US built planes the sealent is a toss up between Gunship Grey and DK Gull Grey, if you due a plane in dk colors you may want to to a slightly lighter shade of Grey then the darkest color and a touch darker Grey on a lighter color but find out which panels will show the most wear & tear to get the effect correct, also around canopies you might want to have a few bare metal “Chips” on the canopy seal edge from the canopy seals & aircrew traffic, but like it was said before IT’S a personal prefferance but sometimes it look’s nice and sometimes it’s to much, most military planes are maintained fairly well and the chips are at a minimum but in certian times they get too far along
To add my two cents to all the comments above, I like shading the panel lines in my models because it gives them a more ‘detailed’ appearance, in my opinion. I think shading the panels tricks the eye (or at least my eye :)) into thinking that what you are looking at is somehow more ‘complex’ than just some plastic put together and painted to look like something else…but, then again, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so I completely understand when somebody prefers unshaded panel lines.
I prefer panel lines to be very subtle, so as to accentuate the fact that they are different panels, but in a way that ( I hope ) matches the prototype. The lines that would show up most are those where dirt and gunk, such as the usual collection of minor oil leaks, would tend to collect, and those where there are panels which would be regularly opened for maintenance, re-arming, etc. Other panel lines would show up far less, and would tend to show up as very slight differences in shade between the panels, particularly at the edges or where natural shadow would occur, rather than dark lines of gunk. I have seen a number of excellent models in which the effect of weathering, whilst otherwise very impressive, has been lessened by overdoing panel lines in the wrong places. But as has already been said by others, at the end of the day, it’s down to personal choice and what the individual modeller is happy with.