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I have been seeing a lot of different types of combi weapons. The HH variants seem to have underslung attachments while the 40k ones have over slung attachments. Which variant is better?

Underslung seems better since most of the time with a two-handed rifle your off-hand is under the barrel rather than over.

I think it is more of a case of how the sculptor or converter can fit the two darn thing together and make it look decent.

BTW, the combi weapon in the new marine tactical squad box is over, and it looks like you could easily make it swapable, so in that manner I think over is better.

Really? I thought underslung would be better because you could attach a scope to the bolter and have a better long range aim. The attachment doesn't get in the way.

Ah, well my answer was more miniature oriented, (my head was in the wrong sub-forum, sorry) but in reality, yes under would be better.

Combi-bolters have no standard pattern. It's why space marines aren't allowed to make more of them (and so they're relics from old "grandfathered" in), and why CSM have them all over the place (as they have no such restrictions).

Though given the auto senses they have built it.

Do they need to lined down the barrels perfectly given tech has 38,000 years to advance

I always pictured them as being somewhat like under slung grenade launchers, but they're pretty non-standard as far as design goes.

I currently have two converted models with combi-bolters; both are under-slung.

I think it just looks more aesthetically pleasing, and you don't need to aim as precisely with a meltagun (let alone a flamer) as you would with a bolter. Only over-slung plasma attachments make sense to me.

Over or under does not matter.

For over with a scope, the scope just needs to be adjusted for different angles.

For Grip over is better with Plasma(Vent coils shooting straight into your hand seems less than Ideal), and does not matter with everything else.

We don't know exactly how the auxiliary weapon is fired, most real-world examples(shotgun and grenade launchers) have a trigger mechanism on the attachment. But also those are detachable and not a permanent fixture of the gun. Comb weapons may very well have a selector in the grip that uses the same trigger thus negating a need for a trigger in the grip(which to be honest could still exist) or attached to the special weapon.

I personally have also used a storm bolter on my Wolfguard terminator, removed half the barrel and have a side-by-side combi plasma.

Personally I think combi on top, bolter on the bottom looks better.
Mainly it gives more enphasis to the special weapon and avoids looking just like a larger bolter.

The side by side also looks nice on terminators, as they have the size to accommodate the thicker weapon(and they hold it one handed)

For common combi weapons, melta, flamer, and plasma all deal with heat, so I would imagine that they would want to be away from your other hand.

Also if the special weapon is under the bolter, where does the ammo clip fit in. I suppose it could swing to the side or the special weapon could have a hole in it but it just doesnt look right to me.

Side-be-side, like the farmers would like us to
-TG

The new tactical squad box comes with a single combi-weapon, with 3 swappable tops of overslung combi-pattern additions.