Assembly Instructions

Step One: Holding a razor blade on an angle gently scrape the backside of the rib comb until the surface is smooth. The backside of the rib comb is the side with the raised lip around the rib edges. This raised lip is what you want to scrape off with the razor blade.

Step Two: Tape the ends of your straight edge ruler to a flat surface with masking tape. Our workbench surface is a 1/4" thick piece of glass.

With fine sandpaper on your sanding block and lightly sand the backside of the car side until the surface is smooth. Be sure you are sanding the backside not the side with the vertical weld seams.

You can also scrape the raised edge with a razor blade instead of sanding it.

Step Three: Adhere a piece of double sided tape in front of your straight edge. This will hold the car side securely in place.

This is where using glass is handy.

Step Four: Align the top edge of a car side with the straight edge of the ruler. Be sure the weld seams are facing up.

Step Five: Using your hobby knife or razor blade remove the rib assembly from the carrier piece.

Step Six: Here we want to smooth the sides of the ribs. Do this by gently holding the rib comb assembly by the top rail and using your sprue snippers to smooth the inside of the ribs. This is best accomplished by applying a very slight pressure and pulling away from the top rail. Usually 3-4 passes is all that is necessary. Only pull away from the top rail which you should be holding. Pushing the sprue snippers will bend and break the ribs.

Step Seven: There are two methods to attach the rib comb to the side of the car. The first might seem unconventional but it works very well.

Method One: Illustrated in the photo below. Take your rib comb and place it on the glass surface. Hold the part down and run plastic cement around the edges touching the glass. Use a light amount - the idea is not to soak the part. You want the capillary action to draw a small amount of plastic cement to the parts of the ribs in contact with glass surface. Once you have all the ribs done wait 45 to 60 seconds and gently peel the comb off the glass using a razor blade or hobby knife as an aid to peel it from the surface. Don't pull too hard or too fast or you might bend the rib comb.

Method Two: An alternative method for attaching the ribs is to place the rib comb in place on the car side and "spot weld" the ribs one by one. This is done by aligning each rib evenly in between the corresponding weld seam and applying plastic cement in spots to hold the rib down. Once you have the ribs attached run a small amount of plastic cement along the ribs to ensure a good weld to the car side. If you use this method step eight is not necessary.

Assembly Tip: When attaching the rib comb to the side of the car using an Optivisor helps dramatically.

Assembly Tip: Holding the car side on an angle in the light will help you see the laser engraved weld seams.

Step Eight: Set the rib assembly up against the ruler and align the ribs so they are equally spaced between each weld seam. Slowly lower the rib comb onto the car side. Be sure you are also applying light pressure forward toward the ruler so that the top rail will be in line with the top of the car side. You will have a little time to manipulate the ribs in place once the rib comb is on the car side. Use your tweezers to check each rib making sure they are space evenly in between each weld seam. Once you are satisfied with the rib placement apply light pressure on each rib. Then go back and run a small amount of plastic cement around the edges of the rib comb. That's the basics of the side assembly.