I was about to post my method for attaching stock car sides to ends on flat kits, then this question popped up. I’m not Charlie, but floating slats are all of the slats between the top and bottom slat which he glues to the ends first. The stick aligns the unglued (floating) slats with the top and bottom slats.

Now for my method. I drape a small piece of wax paper over the end of a wood 2x2, place the side on top of the 2x2 with the end held against the end of the 2x2. Than I glue the top and bottom slats just like Charlie. After the CA cures enough to hold, I tack glue the rest of the slats to the ends. If you have trouble holding the sides and ends together, you can clamp the side to the wood block and just hold the end while gluing. I make two side/end pieces, then glue the two together. To do that, I clamp a piece of 1x2 to the workbench, put a small piece of wax paper over the edge, hold the side/end joint together, and apply CA to all of the slats. Repeat this for the other corner, closing the box. After the CA has cured, I apply another application or gap filling CA to all of the joints on the inside of the car. This method has worked for 25 flat kit stock cars, with properly aligned slats.

Nelson Moyer

Charlie, I've built maybe a dozen resin stockcar kits, but gotta ask, what's a floating slat?
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RJ Dial
Mendocino, CA