Based on the Congo action figure Karen Ross and the Net Warriors knockoff model line character Surge
The first step, as usual, was to hack up the action figure I used as a base. Fortunately, the toy's head and limbs were made of rather soft plastic, so it was easy enough to cut them up, shortening the hair and removing the molded on details. I also shaped the face to be more robotic and angular. Then I pulled out the model kit and started finding pieces to place on the figure, cutting additional bits away to accomodate them. The torso is made of harder plastic, so I had to file away the clothing details that I couldn't cover, and narrow the chest so that I could slip Surge's chest piece over Ross's breasts.
For reasons of temperature extremes, I had to do all my Sculpey work before gluing any model pieces on. I used Sculpey to affix the chest piece and "loincloth" parts, plus built the head and added some shoulder pieces left over from the Panzer Blade Galient (see my Arcee kitbash) to the sides of the head. I quickly realized that the way the right arm was molded would get in the way of the extended chest, so I cut it off to reattach later in a better position. Unfortunately, the model piece I placed over the figure's butt melted and shrank like a Shrinky-Dink, so I had to replace it with an approximation in Sculpey. Then I used my hairdryer to harden the Sculpey and smoothed the lines with an X-Acto. At this stage in the project, it looked really lame. Fortunately, it got better.
The first step in attaching model pieces was to put on the boots. This involved carving out the insides of the model pieces as well as carving down the shins of the action figure. I attached everything with hot glue, filling in some of the gaps with glue as well. The feet weren't totally flat after this, however, so I put glue "bumps" on the bottoms of the feet so they would stand solidly. Then I did the same process with the forearm pieces, and by this time the plastic dust from all my filing was getting thick. Next I reattached the right arm and put the shoulderpad pieces on.
I wanted to attach the Galient's wings somewhere to give a hint of Bowshock's spaceplane mode, but found after I was done with the Sculpey phase that simply gluing the wings onto the back wouldn't look good. So I took one thigh from the Galient, a 1x1 Lego "barrel" piece and the two wings and made a jetpack unit to stick on the back.
I painted the figure mainly in Citadel metallic blue and a sky blue mixture of Pactra paints I had made for an earlier project. I used metallic purple from Citadel for the eyes and Decepticon symbol, and a silver gel pen for some of the accents, plus a tech pen for the black lines. Using the metallic blue paint, I added some accents to the Congo figure's gun, which I found Bowshock held even better with the new arm positioning.
Note: There are rumors that Bowshock and Shockwave share a common designer, rumors Bowshock sees fit to let stand without comment, although she seems too passionate to be related to the notorious "cold piscaton" of the Decepticons. Her first real action was as a partner to the warrior known as Bludgeon, and their complementary skills made them a terror on the battlefield. However, as Bludgeon moved deeper into his study of Metallikato, he and Bowshock parted ways over philosophical differences that neither will discuss with outsiders. Bowshock's spaceplane mode is capable of reaching orbit without assistance, but is limited to Mach 1.1 in an atmosphere if maneuverability is desired. Bowshock cannot travel in hyperspace on her own. In either mode, Bowshock wields a powerful Multi-Spectrum Cannon, a versatile weapon ranked at the top of its class, although not approaching the sheer firepower of Shockwave's or Megatron's cannons. Those who have assumed her to be an easy target in hand-to-hand combat because of her preference for heavy weapons have often learned to their dismay that Bowshock learned quite a bit from Bludgeon before their partnership was dissolved.
STR 5 INT 7 SPD 8 END 5 RNK 5 COUR 7 FRP 8 SKL 9 Avg 6.75
