The most frustrating part of the assembly was getting the top half of the case on. Getting the front edge to line up snugly, and stay in place while pivoting it down over the keyboard and screen is very finicky. You kind of have to flex it a little to get it to snap over the keyboard. After you get it in place, check the front seam between the top and bottom of the case. If it gaps in the middle, something hasn’t seated correctly.
Then, if you are like me, you’ll now notice the black hunk of metal with blue film on one side that the instructions never mentioned sitting on the table.
This thread:
Provides the clue as to its purpose. I got to have more practice removing and replacing the top shell while disassembling to the point that I could attach the heat sink. I peeled up the blue film and found a white sticky pad underneath, and lacking any firm guidance, I just centered it over the Rockchip on the main board and stuck it down. I’m very naive on heat sinks, isn’t there supposed to be “thermal paste” or something? Anyway, hopefully it helps.