A panel line is a shallow groove molded into a kit’s surface to suggest that a hull or armor plate is built from separate panels. Fresh from the runner they are subtle — the same color as everything else, visible only in raking light.
Accenting them with a dark wash is the highest-leverage twenty minutes in the hobby: a lined kit reads as detailed and finished even with no other paint. Our headline motif — the ink flowing through a groove — is this exact process.
See it in context in our panel lining & decals guides, or explore the tools hands-on in The Bench.