Been a busy boy...

Here's what I've been up to over the past couple weeks.  Early in the year I called about booking the hobby room at our condo so I could get some stuff primed.  I like to have lots of stuff in this state as it means if painting motivation/inspiration comes to me, I can act on it more easily.

In this batch there's my Mordaci Blaylock conversion and an AoBR tactical squad for my Novamarines, Pedro Kantor, a sternguard squad, a devastator squad, a land raider and a rhino for my Crimson Fists, finally a jump pack chaplain and my deathwatch marine for my Raptors.  I also tried to undercoat a tactical squad of Raptors white, but the can was pretty empty and it eventually started getting gritty so I stopped.

What's the best thing I should do for the poorly undercoated white guys; should i just give them a brush to see if it removes the grit? strip them and start again? any other magic tips?

Crimson Fists: Devastators... blasting it old school

I've had these old 2nd edition devastator bodies sitting around ever since my brother gave me his old stuff.  I figured nobody would really be interested so I never bothered to try and trade them for something else.  One day when wondering what to do with the scout heavy bolters I had sitting around - I got inspired and figured a full heavy bolter armed devastator squad would be fluffy for my Crimson Fist army - as well as use up these bits in a way that will at the least give me a unique model that likely nobody else will have.  I love the reinforced leg armour - I'm sure Forge World will get around to it when they realize it's another product people will spend a ton of money on bits because it reminds them of "the good old days".

This is the dilemma I have left, should I use these weapon mount/tripod components or not?  I'm leaning towards not as it makes them look like they just run around blasting away like crazy, but I would love to hear your opinion.  Here's a pic with the same two models with the mounts blu-tacked on.  Which do you prefer and why?  I could also mount them in a "retracted" position (ie. pointing the same direction as the barrel) or a combination of the two, but it's either all tripods or no tripods.  I'm planning to prime these guys tomorrow so please comment and quick!