STORMO! Forums

Greetings all,
Visiting this site and viewing all the fine workmanship of model building has brought me to purchase my first build. 1/48 scale is a lot smaller than I thought, and first thing I know I'll need is a good magnifier. I realized already that my expectations are greater than my ability and eyesight. The cockpit details are slight, with minor raised instrument control representation on the side interior's and the instrument panel. I have the Aero Detail #11 and will be working from this resource mostly. This kit also has wing panel lines that are raised, and would like to know if it would be wise to sand them down and then recess them or leave them as they are. There will be a lot of trial and error on this one for me, but I'm enjoying the possibilities.
Anthony,

Hi Anthony,
Thanks for your post. When I built my 1/48 Airfix Ju.87, I left the raised panel lines untouched since there were so many:

http://stormomagazine.com/ModelArticles ... VT_1a.html

However you can remove these lines if you like, although its quiet a big job. One way to do this is to use the reverse end of #11 Exacto knife and scribe along the raised panel lines as a guide and then sand down the raised panel lines when you're done. I used this approach when I built my 1/48 SMER C.200 (fuselage, ailerons, rudder, tail plane):

http://www.stormomagazine.com/ModelArti ... 00a_1.html

If you choose to remove the raised panel lines, do it while each part is connected to the sprue, then assemble the kit.

Because of the effort involved in this task, I would just leave the lines as is, and concentrate on the finish. If you do a good job on the finish the raised panel lines make little difference.

Well I'm going to jump all in with this one. picked up some more tools, brushed off my ol' airbrush and found a 4X's visor magnifier. I'm going to tackle the panel lines and work toward some detail. If I live long enough I might post the results.