Well, looking at it I don't think you need to model those panels at all on the wings. Chief suggested I do up a little example, by copying your wing, so here we go:
Let's start by looking at the final product:
Pretty snazzy for a few minutes of work.
So let's start back at the beginning, what does this model look like without any maps?
Whoa, where did all the detail go? Well, the secret is that they're in the maps. There are two maps in play here, the diffuse map and the normal map, which together take this flat, boring object and turn it into something detailed.
The first map we apply is the Normal map. Basically this is height data, where the computer will look at the map to figure out how to shade the object, pretending that it was real geometry, but it actually isn't, because no faces are being raised or lowered.
So that's the model with the normal map, but it still doesn't have quite the depth we're looking for, this is where the diffuse map comes into play. The diffuse map doesn't only include colours to go on the model, but can also be used very effectively to give an illusion of other details. Basically what I've done is take the normal map and screw around with it a little, adding some shading and subtle colour differences on the diffuse to give a better illusion of depth.
(Note that this is a terribly UVMapped object, but hey, it's simple for the sake of example)
With these combined, the object now looks as detailed as yours, but with only
44 triangles in total.
And yes, I know I forgot to make a hole for the gun barrel. So shoot me.
