Simulating Dents..

yes it takes heat. but a lot of aircraft did not have dents unless thay were in the junk yard the aircraft of ww2 were ether wood or thick aluminum. and maintainace panels on aircraft would not be dented to many bolts and thay have to fit just right if thay were dented it would make a lot of drag or come off in the air . thay would be faded and skuffed up bad. now after thare off and on the ground thay will be mest up .

The most commonly found dented items you'll find on an aircraft are the inspection panels. They get dropped (oh lord do they get dropped) and stepped on. Which results in the corners and edges getting bent. So you drag out the plyers and hammers and bend and bang the offending areas back into position. Unless you are very close, the most common visiual evidence is the chipped and cracked paint around the repaired (?) area. Any dent the would be visible on say, a 1/72 model would most likely cause the panel to be replaced because the a/c mfg, the military and the FAA have some pretty restrictive guidelines as to location, size and depth of dents and dings that don't have to be repaired or the panel replaced. I simulate the chipped paint to represent the normal wear and tear on inspection panels.
And the biggest percentage of the panels on most WW II a/c are either .032" or .040", which aren't very thick.