heres another pic veiw of a better explination
http://users.techline.com/drreed/panel%20tut2.png
as you can see here the same three cockpits. you can do something like what I have or make a simple block. either way you will get same results. okay as you see on the first cockpit to your left there is really nothing there. but when you go over to the object in the middle you will notice that on the inside cockpit. there are four lines one on the upper right hand side. on the upper left hand side. the same with the bottom.
okay select two vertices on either side it doesn't matter just as long as the vertices are at a vertical angle. select your two vertices now hit the CTRL-SHIFT-L keys on your computer this will enable you to create any lines on a single surface. now repeat the same process on the other sides.
now we will go to the last cockpit on your right hand side. notice there is a pattern like design on it with a circle in the middle. to achive this select the inside surfaces not crossing the boundries you just set with the new lines you created. okay once those surfaces are selected hit the duplicate key also known as CTRL-D hit those keys and then you should have some sorta pattern like what I have.
there you guys go my little benefit to all users of ac3d. I hope you find this helpful.