hi, i am a beginner to the hobby too and am concentrating on ww2 german figures only.
i have done about 50 figures so far and each time the figures get better.
you have too look in modelling forums for the best way or even reference books like osprey.
i printed off all the ideas that i found and trying each one out.
the uniforms for ages i was putting tamiya acrylis straight onto the model the realised that i have too dilute them a bit
takes little bits like these tips to improve your models.
hope this helps a bit.
good luck