John I like the overall look of this buddy,nice job ! Great achievement also in such a short space of painting time ... And in 1/9th scale which is not easy !
Offering constructive critique,for the me the MG42 needs some more work on the metal areas and also the wooden butt area needs working up some.The Kharkov parka carries the same light from top to bottom,try making the highlights towards the bottom of the parka darker than those up top,ie around the chest and shoulders. The upper half should be lighter than the lower taking into account the Zenithal lighting principal .... When highlighting try adding a light yellow or flesh colour in to this mix rather than straight white,it could be the images but it looks like there is a fair amount of white in there. Field grey lights up well with naples yellow or flesh,without de-saturating the colour,this will also give you a warm highlight.When shading try adding blue-black in to the mix,making these areas cooler in hue.
You can add filters at this stage to knock the whites back some and to darken the lower areas but you could also leave it as it is and maybe try working the above into your next piece. Either way your work here looks nice ! It's when you want that bit extra when you are ready to try improve further ...
The Brass ammo rounds would benefit from being toned down a bit also.
Still a great acheivment John !
Itching to paint mine now ...
Rgds
Carlos
