Try stretching the flanks by pulling them at the middle. That brown horizontal thing is holding the deck, it seems.
Yes, it is - there's a sort of "tab" on each side - I tried "stretching them", like you said, bud didn't manage to get it wide enough..
The instructions for pulling it together (but it is VERY rare that these come apart, in my experience) say to push something... I don't really understand what, not having it apart to peek. I was wondering if there is some trick to it.