Hi,
I’m back with another question. I have read a few comments from people at different websites about raised panel lines and recessed panle lines. I’m trying to figure out what is the issue here. I know the difference but is there a difference as far as building a model? I’ve been away from modeling for 21 years and just got back into it. What do people favor as far as panel lines go and why?
Thanks, John
Hello Pouncer and welcome to the forum!
I’m afraid you’ve opened up a can of worms with this topic. People feel very passionate about their panel lines whether they’re raised or recessed. To me they make no difference whatsoever. You’ll need to use different weathering techniques depending on what your model has. For example, many people use a dark wash to highlight recessed panel lines. If a model has raised lines they might be more apt to rely on pastel chalks. That’s just a simple “for instance”.
Some will say that it’s hard to replace a raised panel line once it has been sanded away. This is true but I’ve found that a careful tracing of the panel line with an Xacto blade or a scriber will more than suffice.
Take a look at pictures of planes in books and the internet. In reality you can hardly see the panel lines and when you can they are awfully faint. I’ve seen some models where the panel lines just jump out and scream at you. Regardless if they’re raised or recessed just think about how the lines look on the real plane and weather acordingly.
If the lines are raised or recessed, well, it only matters what you prefer. Enjoy and have fun getting back into it! 
Best wishes,
Eric
I think the main issue is that on the real planes, there’s no such thing as a raised panel lines. Panel lines should be ‘recessed’ as they are trying to simulate gaps between panels. The issue then becomes whether the lines are over done, especially in scale.
I prefer recessed panel lines & the vast majority of modern kits come that way in the box. Most of the 20 + year old kits still being sold, do not.
Regards, Rick
I think a lot also depends on the scale.
1/72 and smaller panel-lines would be hardly visible, 1/48 and bigger and they become an issue.
Think about. How big are those gaps in real life?? a few centimeters, unlikely more like maybe a few milimeters.
Now take the width and divide by the scale(i.e. 2mm/72(for 1/72) = 0.027mm) and you get the size of what the gap should be on the model.
Yes, a lot of the details are out of scale. [;)]
I agree but you have to take in account the artistic aspect.
You have to exaggerate in order to allow showing the various details.
A lot of things are like this, rivets, fabric effect etc.
If they were up to scale then it would look very toylike or hardly visible…
I come to believe that it doesnt matter if it is raised or recessed.
Drybrushing makes raised lines stand out beautifully.
Washing is better for recessed.
The panel lines on full sized AC are so small you would not be able to slide a playing card betwwen them. On some 1/48 scale models you can fit the whole deck in them.
Ben
I myself have never seen the logic in detailing panel lines that are recessed due to the fact mentioned above.I can see were a plane stuck out in a field for everyone to see,would show drit and metal from the years of weather on the panel lines.Most aircraft are washed to keep there aerodymamic and to save fuel.Models on the other hand want raised or recessed panel lines for added depth and detail.As for I like the clean look or sometimes the heavy paint chiped look and this depends on what subject matter I am working on.So depending on what you like is what your subject will turn out to be.Digger
yeah,I was gonna say, in the pics that I’ve seen, there weren’t any panellines visible. the surface was just smooth[?]
(lumpy kind of smooth if you know what I mean)
waikong
The biggest percentage of most propeller driven aircraft whether military or civilian are built with overlapping sheets of aluminum. This gives you a raised line. Granted, it isn’t much, usually .032 to .060 but it’s still a raised line. Butt splicing (flush surfacing) is more aerodynamic but much more labor intensive. Plus you are going to use two to three times the number of rivets to get a splice with the same strength. What this means is that a butt spliced area is going to weigh more, take longer to install and cost more than an overlapped area.