Finished - Deathwatch Scouts

Ok so they are not completely finished. In the picture, I forgot to do the grey hard-edge highlighting on the hands but other than that they are finished. 

I had some difficulty fitting the heads on the bodies. I really wanted the vox mask for the Salamander Scout but it would not fit in the very small space facing the way the gun was pointed. I had a similar problem with the sexy goggles on the Blood Angel. In the end, I ended up liking it as it adds variety to which direction the model is facing. 

I did a little conversion to the Ultramarine "leader" by giving him two scopes. The big scope is an Ork scope with the Orky bits filed off and the smaller scope is a SM scope. I accidentally mounted it backwards with the angled part mounted forward but I don't think it maters. 

Speaking of the Ultramarine, I wish his exposed Deathwatch shoulder turned out better. I did the same process of cutting the groves that I did with the mental Rufus and it did not paint up the same. It is OK but it did not pick up the highlights like Rufus' did. 

Other than that, I am very pleased with how they came out. They will certainly add variety to the Deathwatch army.

I am going to talk about the specifics piecemeal over several posts, but I think that GW missed a lot of opportunities for bot gameplay variety and to move existing kits. I've ranted about how GW's new philosophy seems to be to introduce a new kit to plug holes in the rules rather than revamp the rules for existing kits. Scouts have never sold well, I assume given their limited presence on the table top. Rather than making the Stalker-pattern Bolter a 5 point upgrade, Scouts with Sniper Rifles could have been added to the Codex. They would not have needed an upgrade sprue. 

It is hard to establish value for these minis. A box of Scouts costs $25 retail. The conversions and paint at worth at the very least that. The bases cost about $1-$2 each. Total replacement value for these 5 minis without Rufus are $55.