Are the figures going to get a very faint layer of dust, this may help the diorama by making the figures look like they were there for an amount of time as at the moment they look too clean. Apart from this the diorama looks brilliant and the name plat should finish it off nicely.

chas I also think a light dusting would add that litttle extra too make them less clean looking and look like they hsve been in a fight other then that looks great

Well Chas
Your dio deserve better barbed wire for sure.
The uniform are to clean for me and maybe insignia ??
And for the MG 42 spending cases will be a great addition.

General comment:
The trench and the surrounding are too clean.
You need to put ammo cases, ammo boxes, carton boxes wine bottles, tools weapons pioneer tools, Destroy nets on the rear of the bunker, what else ?? a wounded german soldier at the rear of the trench, or a radio to distract the viewer maybe
But this is my personal taste
Please see what other thinks about this point ??
Cheers
Seb

Hi Chas, have been lurking around keeping an eye on this thread for a while and it's great to see it finished, the name plate should look pretty classy too.

However, while your groundwork is excellent, i'll echo Phil and Seb's points about the figures, they are far too clean looking. This is an easy fix however, all you need to do is a little gentle drybrushing on the fieldgrey uniforms to add some highlights. Add some washes to the uniforms and skin tones. Finally add some pigments to their boots, knees/elbows to make them look like they have been fighting.

All in a great and original dio. One other thing I just spotted; The MG42 ammo box would not have been bare gun metal as you have painted it but painted either field grey or panzer dark yellow.