wow I am going to have to make the texture map for the body 4k square (minimum). I was doing some tests in photoshop and the panel lines and rivets are to big. If I try to reduce the size of the rivets they have no shape and are all fuzzy.

I may actually need an 8k map . What is the maximum map size Maya can handle?

PS - I did quite a bit of research on rivet and panel line details and I have even worked on an aluminum homebuilt aircraft and rivets do go through the middle of panels. In traditional aircraft construction there are stringers and ribs and the metal panels are riveted to them not only around the edges but through the interior sections as well This way the outer skin actually adds rigidity and strength to the whole structure.

But that is not to say they may not look correct ascetically, so I hear you. I am in the trial and error phase atm so I have time to change things and it's always easy to remove detail. When I bump the map size up I will tinker with it.

Thank you for the feed back. Jay if you are out there how does the panel detail sit with you?

The panels and rivets give it a very military feel to me so I am going with that motif for the paint scheme.