by April Welles

This is the Cylon Raider designated Destroyer, Aerospace Vessel-series 1, version D, or DAV-1D.

DAV-1D went against his programming, and 'propaganda' the Cylons had been feeding him. He did not believe that the Human race was one that needed to be eradicated. He felt that they had every right to exist. He also did not hold with the One God of the Cylons instead of Many Gods the Colonials believe.

The information the Cylon Overseers continued to feed was that the Humans were trying to exterminate the Cylon peoples. What he observed while on patrols, or during dogfights, was that the humans rarely ever attacked them. They always sent their fighters out to defend themselves only. A race that was trying to exterminate another would not be fighting only on defense constantly.

He started to disbelieve his Overseers. Finally, during another attack against the “Scourge of the Cylons”, he made his choice. He turned upon his kind. In front of on-coming Vipers he turned and attacked the Raiders nearest him.

The Colonial Pilots were stunned. They did not know what was happening. But they did see that one Raider was attacking the others and leaving the Vipers and the Fleet alone. Once the attack had been driven off, DAV-1D followed the Vipers slowly from behind. Still confused and unsure of this 'Rouge' Raider's motive, Kara Thrace turned to face him down. As she did so, he slowly performed a roll and exposed his “belly” to her. Stunned, she decided to escort him to the Galactica's landing bay. He made no threatening moves to any of the ships or pilots.

After successfully communicating with him and discovering his motives, DAV-1D was inducted into the fleet (under a watchful eye for a time), and been given the name 'David'. After this, he changed the appearance of his 'eye' to that of blue, both to distinguish him from other Raiders, but also to show his more cooperative intentions toward humans. He has proven himself on many occasions- as his kill markings show- as well as saving many pilots, including 'Starbuck'. Because of that Kara has accepted him to the point of allowing him to be her wingman.

He continues to fight for the Colonials, and is one of the many heroes of the survival of the human race.

Ever since I bought this kit in 2007 at Wonderfest I had the idea that it would be great to see what a Raider would look like if it had defected to the Colonials and helped fight the Cylons.

The kit used for this is the 'Black Sun' 1/72 scale 'Galactic Enemy' kit. It's very nicely cast. There are a few minor symmetry issues, but nothing too bad. Cleanup was pretty easy. There really wasn't any flash (mostly on the gun barrels), and the seam lines were minor. A little bit of sanding and they were gone.

I painted the parts first, then I attached them. The main body is painted Light Gray. I painted the engines Light Ghost Gray, Light Sea Gray, and Gunship Gray. The guns, lower vents, and 'mouth' are Gunmetal, as is the inner scanner 'Eye' section. The eye itself it Reaper Ice Blue and Dragon Blue.

I used some spare 1/48 Viper decals for the markings. Being that he is a recent addition to the Colonial Fleet his stripes are not as worn and flaked as the Vipers. However, he has experienced some of that, but only very minor. I also used the kit-supplied wing decals (they add a nice contrast to the Galactica Red stripes). The kill markings come from the JBOT sheet.

For the panel lines I used Tamiya tape, a pencil, and a lot of patience. I also used ground graphite for the weathering on him, as well as some of the near hit scuff marks.

I think he's Frakkin' Cool!

Image: Front view

Image: Rear

Image: Top

Image: Underneath

Image: Kill markings

Image: Right side

Image: Top/rear

Image: Upper/left

Image: Top/front