Every aircraft is made from seperate parts. Where these parts join together a seam is obviously created, how big or small this seam is depends on the aircraft. Obviously there are various differnet seams and joins used in aviational subjects but that is an essay in its self. It is also worth a mention that some aircraft will not have any seams. Aircraft such as the U2 will be seamless, thus reducing the unwanted "drag" effect that seams produce. A seam on the aircraft will increase the surface area of which the air has to pass over, therefore taking more power to produce the required thrust. By removing these areas, drag is reduced and the aircrafts top speed will be increased. It was noted by several sources than the Supermarine Spitfire was 15 M.P.H. faster without paint and 20 M.P.H. faster when the seams were smoothed.
Removing and adding panel lines isnt too hard! Older kits such as Airfix and Frog have raised pannel lines as standard! Heres how i do it:
Original wing with rasied seams and rivit detail. Top section of an early Frog Typhoon.
Using wet and dry, apply a little water to the wing and gently rub in circular motions over the areas you want to remove. You wont have to press very hard, just lightly sand away the raised areas. The picture above shows half the wing now smooth.
Then using a pencil mark out where you want to create the new lines. Using a ruler or hard card as a guide, cut a groove into the plastic with a sharpe craft knife. Again dont press too hard, little pressure is needed. You can do one light mark, take away the ruler and see, if it needs to go deeper simply repeat the process. (as you can see my ruler was absert for this demo).
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