Solid steel wheels are really narrower than rubberized ones.sassgrunt wrote: I found a 1/35 STZ build that said that the all-steel wheels were more narrow than the rubber-tired ones, and by golly, you can see it in photos of the real thing. Both the Shapeways and Trumpeter wheels are the same width as the rubber ones, (about 0.850"), so I went through some effort to narrow the Trumpeter ones (to about 0.0650"). They look better to my eyes, but it was a LOT of work and I'm not sure it was really worth it.
I also had difficulty trying to make the shovel-nosed straight mantlet, and ended up buying a resin STZ turret from eBay. I have mixed emotions about it; it looks good and is hollow inside, but the upper hatch does not open; which seems like a drawback in this scale.
The hatch on my tower doesn't open, although it can be done in theory. But personally, I didn't want to do it.