Trim your shell!
Now this is a topic that will bring lots of different approaches so I will table this one as a beginners starting point but you will see that there is equipment that you can buy or make to make the task very easy.
You also need to be aware that some shells are not very accurately marked especially the positioning of the front wheel arches relative to each other.
So start by trimming the side sills 4mm below the cut line, you can trim the front splitter and rear valance (assuming GT12 here) to the line but leave the wheel arches intact.
The 4mm surplus allows the shell to sit on your work surface when positioned over the car without the body posts fitted, the car should be set at its ride height of 3.5 - 4mm, you can then move the shell around to align the front wheels within the marked wheel arches, it is here were you will see how good the shell is marked!
The rear arches invariably do not align depending upon the wheelbase the shell was designed for originally and you may have to compromise on the fore and aft positioning!
Take a marker pen and mark the centre of each wheel axle as accurately as you can.
The best way to cut the arches is to use a compass cutter available from some model shops, online and elsewhere, set the size to clear your chosen tyre diameter, I go for around 3mm clearance, then trim the arches to complete along with the sills, smooth the edges of the arches at least, the shell can cut a tyre on impact.
The body post mounting holes can be done numerous ways, some choose to do them before the arches which I do now as I have made some adjustable posts that I can raise to sit the shell at the right height, on top of each is a small button magnet now sold by some of the model car dealers.
So I adjust each post to set the trimmed shell level with the chassis, i.e. 4mm above the work surface, drop a button magnet on top of the shell at each post, these magnets have a hole through their centre, align the shell and mark the post positions. I would then mark the wheel arch centres at this stage too.
I hope this all makes sense, it is an onerous task until you get your methodology sorted so do more then one shell, you will soon need a second one, I do three or four at a session and paint them too! Yeah I crash a lot!!!
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