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Those panels in the hive body are the followers, which act as false ends. It allows you to expand and contract the size of the hive as you see fit. For instance, when you start a new colony, you may want to have only a dozen or so top bars (maybe less), while the capacity of the hive is actually 20+ bars. As the bees draw comb down from the bars you started them with, they'll max out their hive, so you slide the follower over, place a couple new top bars in, snug it up, and you're done - until they draw comb on those new bars, and then you repeat the process. You can do this on both ends at the same time, and they'll likely use one side for brood and one side for honey/pollen.