Raised panel lines. Tamiya 1/48 Lancaster

I supposed it depends on what you expect your outcome to be.  You might try either an oil or pastel wash maybe even a  MiG pigment wash.  Something in an ashy/light sand color ought to give you what you're looking for I should think.  Tamiya even has a Weathering Compound that somewhat resembles an eye shadow make-up box.  I've had some success with that in the past.  To make it work like you need: 1) apply over a flat coat. This will help it to adhere the way you need to work it over your surface. 2)  I'm unfamiliar with where the raised panel lines are, but I do know the riveting pattern made up on the Lancaster.  You can make out rectangles where the skin gets stressed.  Applying your wash along the bottom parts and the sides of these lines of stress can help you show what's going on in this darker paint on the plane.  I'll look for an example of what I'm speaking of if I can find it. This can be accomplished with an airbrush as well.  You'll need to thin your paint down considerably and be very controlled with your brush.

I'll look for that photo.

Thanks mate. Greatly appreciate it

Here's what I could find on a quick search.  Not quite what I was looking for but you get the idea.

Reunion-of-Giants-Lancaster-Documentary-1 by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

You can make out how that lighter ash color defines the space around the rivets.  I would also suggest keeping more of this color on the top sides of each little rectangle as it will give the appearance of light from above reflecting off this area.  The darker color underneath will help suggest the panel skin receding.

Here's another example:

Lancaster-tail-turret by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

You can see the areas that receive more direct light from above will have that lighter color.  Ultimately, they also tend to weather faster from the Sun as they receive more energy.  So if you look just forward of the turret, you'll notice how the rivets "pull" the skin back into the ribbing and stringers creating a darker surface.  I'd look to replicated that by keep your lighter weathering/painting on top the rectangles created by the riveting.

Also, if you can handle it...I'd encourage you to do some riveting =P  I bet it'd be beautiful. =]  ...albiet a huge PITA. 

Looking forward to seeing your build!!

Thanks again. Got some work ahead of me methinks!

I made this kit myself years ago for a model shop, I actually went for dry brushing for the panel lines to highlight them, I used Humbrol 11 silver and I only went over them very lightly, it meant that you could see them in all lights but more when the light hit directly it worked really well for me, and I went heavier on the dry brushing in other areas, that's just another idea because black is a tricky one when it comes to panel lines and especially when you don't want to compromise a good solid black underside. This is actually a really enjoyable kit, the only areas to watch out for are the engines, they don't fit well to the wings filling and sanding will be required, otherwise one of the best I have built, you'll love it.

Get the UMM scriber tool to Re-scribe all the panel lines.Its a great tool to work with. 99.9% of aircraft of all eras did not have "Raised "panel lines.in 1/48 scale would be perfect to do that.

Thanks Dean. Looking forward to ir

Not sure if this is will help but I did this with a grey Navy plane I completed a couple of years back.  I shaded the raised panel lines and then I painted the model the color it was supposed to be.  Then I went over the entire model with a polishing cloth OH SO LIGHTLY!!!!  It was just enough to barely remove some of the paint from the raised panel lines while leaving the rest of the paint untouched.  Worked like a charm!  

In your case, I'd first paint a lighter color over the panel lines.  Next I'd paint the black and then use the gentle panel line sanding technique to make those raised lines "pop".

Eric

Yeah rescribing is for the insanity part of the hobby.

Aircraft don't have recessed panel lines either.

A Lanc of that era would have a skin like a warthog. Overlaps, gusset plates...

My own personal approach is to get a really sharp pencil and run it along one side.

Thanks for all the replies guys. I got to see the static display Lanc and Duxford last year and her skin was about as smooth as an elderly elephants backside. Looking forward to this one

I built this Lanc when it first came out, and that was many years ago,  The only issue with it, as I remember, was that the outer ends of the ailerons had encroached onto the wing end caps.  Have a look at yours and you will see what I mean.  Hope this helps.  It is a great kit.