Depth of panels on model - not obvious

[lorisarvendu]

As you may (or may not) know, I've just finished a 1/12th scale police box based on the Met's original plans.  Something the blueprint didn't tell me (unless I didn't look hard enuff) was the depth of the panels.  I used 1mm thick card and halfway thru the build I decided the panels didn't look deep enough, so I recessed them another 1mm and the finished model looks great.

My next project is a red Mile End/Blackwall tunnel box, and I've just been looking at my own photos of one.  I've noticed something.  The panels in that box (and in fact in any other box I've seen) are actually not as deep in real life.

However on a model, panels done to the same scale just don't look right.  Somehow when you scale it down, it helps to add more relief.  I suppose it means that an absolutely perfect scale model would be accurate but just wouldn't look right.