Gunpla Build - SD Calibarn

I don’t know why, but for some reason I felt immediately compelled to build this kit. Might as well strike while the iron is hot:

The End of an Era?

First things first. I got this almost a year ago on a family trip to Disney World. Since I got my very first Gunpla at the Japan Pavilion thirteen years ago, it’s always been a tradition for me to buy a kit every time I visit.

Sadly, whereas there was literally a wall of Gunpla at the Pavilion gift shop back in 2012, there was literally one single kit available in 2024. Spoiler alert - it was this one.

That means I bought it out of necessity, which is not to say I settled or anything. Calibarn is a fine mobile suit, and this looks like a great SD. If it was a Gundam SEED Freedom kit or something, then I might have had reservations.

(who am I kidding? I still would have bought it, though I’d have been salty)

Anyway, my main point here is how sad it has been to watch their inventory get smaller and smaller over the years. It’s probably only a matter of time before they stop carrying Gunpla entirely. That’s when I’ll know that WDW is no longer for me (which I only say half jokingly).

About the Model Kit

This is a Cross Silhouette SD. One of the great things about them is that they look really cool when you use the special Cross Silhouette frame, but one of the bad things about them is that most of them don’t actually come with the CS frame. You usually have to buy the frame a la carte, which is a pain the butt, since in my experience they’re not easy to find.

They’re not like Action Bases, where they’re readily available all the time at your local hobby shop. Instead they’re more like actual Gunpla, in the sense that they get reprinted from time to time, and you have to get them while the getting is good.

Thankfully, some kits come with a frame, including the last one I built, as well as Calibarn here. This is entirely coincidental; I didn’t go out of my way to by these kits because they had a frame. It was merely a happy accident.

The Parts

This is quite an impressive spread for an SD:

Part of that is the inclusion of the second frame, of course, but it’s also because this kit not only has Calibarn’s big gun, but also it’s shield - and yes, the shield does split apart into GUND Bits just like the real one.

It also has a ton of stickers for all the Permet lines:

Of course, even with all these parts and decals, this is still an SD kit, and that means it’s still got some problems with color accuracy¹.

The good news is that this is Calibarn we’re talking about here, which means most of the painting is going to involve either grey or black paint (and maybe a bit of yellow and green). That should mean it’s fairly straightforward. But let’s dive in and find out!

Feet

Surprisingly one of the only body parts that requires no color correction:

Legs

Couple things you have to do here:

1. If you’re topcoating the model, you’ll want to consider masking the clear parts where the Permet lines show
2. All of the grey you see around the knee is painted
3. The yellow on the back of the leg is also painted
4. I clear coated this parts separately before assembly, and it wasn’t until it was all done that I noticed the seamline going straight down the middle of the knee. Woopsie …

Lower Torso

Not too much work to do here. A bit of panel lining and a tiny bit of painting (which you could do with a panel lining marker instead if you want to)

There is one tiny clear part near the crotch, but you might want to wait to attach it after topcoating the rest.

Upper Torso

Once again, you’ll want mask the clear Permet area (or you could topcoat all the white parts separately, and then do assembly)

When it comes to detailing, if we’re just talking about the chest, without the backpack, there’s not much work to be done other than panel lining. The backpack is an entirely different story …

Backpack

There’s a lot of grey here, and you’re going to need to paint all of it:

Also, don’t be like me and attach the thrusters in the wrong orientation, and then apply Tamiya cement to remove the seamline, and then have to take it all apart and reassemble and reapply cement. It just makes for messy results.

Arms

There’s tiny little permet bits here you’ll want to mask, but the main work is in the shoulders. You’ll need to paint the side vents yellow and black:

Normally I’m not very good with yellow, and terrible with yellow and black, but I think these came out okay.

Beyond that, there are some other spots on the arms themselves that you can paint grey if you so choose to.

(PS - As you can see, the kit comes with both closed and open hands)

Head

Surprisingly, there’s not much work to do here. Just a few tiny panel lines, and a bit of grey paint by the vulcan cannons.

There’s also a seamline right down the center, but it’s only visible on the back half. You’ll only really need to erase it if you expect the backside of the model to be visible (or if you are a perfectionist).

Now for my big complaint, by far my biggest gripe with this kit. I’ve built two other Cross Silhouette SDs, and in both cases they have a two-sided eye piece that lets you choose between the two sets of eyes. Moreover, on both of them you are able to remove the helmet in order to easily swap the eyes around:

For whatever reason, SD Calibarn gives you no such flexibility. The way the head is designed is such that the eyes are stuck deep inside. The only way to change them is to disassemble the entire thing bit by bit - but if you like cementing parts together in order to remove seamlines, that’s not really going to work.

Basically, you have to pick a set of eyes and stick with them, which is a huge bummer.

Shield

They really didn’t skimp out here. It’s got all the same parts as the original, just SD’ified:

There’s a bunch of grey you can paint on, and you can also paint the tips of those two grey parts to be white.

Anyway, while this is all technically impressive, I have three issues with the shield:

1. It doesn’t look all that great when it’s so short and squat. Technically impressive, yes, but not good looking
2. It’s fragile. The High Grade shield has a special backing piece that keeps the whole thing together, but here, the parts attach directly to each other - and because they’re so small, none of the connections are especially deep or strong. It’ll fall apart easily if you’re not super delicate
3. The green/black sticker on the center piece doesn’t really fit well, and looks kind of ugly

When I eventually put this on the shelf, my intention is to take the shield apart and attach the GUND bits to Calibarn. I’m guessing that will look much better.

Gun

This requires a good deal of work. First, there’s a seamline running right down the middle:

Since there are so many little angles and bends (especially in the back), it’d be tough to fully erase the seam, so I’d just focus on the front (where it’s nice and straight and flat)

Looking around the back, the vents on the “broom” section all need to be painted grey:

Technically the areas between each vent should be painted green, but I don’t think I have a brush small enough to do that. And honestly, this is an SD. It doesn’t need to be a 1:1 perfect match to its larger counterpart.

Finally, there are two other places you can paint:

1. The grey area on the top of the four broom sections
2. The handle (which you could easily just leave be, but it’s there if you want to do it)

I’d definitely recommend at least adding some color to the gun, otherwise the entire thing is going to look white.

Finished

SD Calibarn is ready to go:

My first reaction was “this doesn’t look all that detailed”, but then I put it on my shelf next to my other SD’s, and that’s when I realized that, no, it’s actually quite intricate for its size:

But now back to the lightbox.

Just like its big sister, it is sometimes hard to see the rainbow permet lines unless you get the angle and/or the lighting just right (like in this photo):

I wonder if maybe this could have been fixed by making the clear plastic a little less dark - or maybe making the stickers more reflective.

I was pleased to see that the model was able to easily hold its gun with a one-handed grip, though I honestly don’t know if that’s because it was engineered that way, or if it’s because I added a bunch of additional friction by applying a layer of grey paint and topcoat.

Anyway, I’m still not super impressed with the shield, so this is the last you’re going to see of it in this form:

Thankfully it looks just fine without it:

With Big Sis

And now SD Calibarn wants to spend some time with her onee-chan:

They definitely make a cute pair together:

With the GUND Bits

And finally, it’s time to take apart that shield and slap on the GUND Bits:

Yeah, this is a much better use for them than the shield. They make it look so much speedier.

Conclusion

This is a tough one to judge. It’s nicer than some of the basic SD’s that are in the $10-$12 range.

But on the flip side, the F-Kunoichi Kai is just a couple bucks more, and has even more detail and weapons and gimmicks (and it still comes with a CS frame).

If you love Calibarn it’s a no brainer, but if you’re just looking for an example of what a Cross Silhouette SD can do, I’d give the F-Kunoichi a spin first.

Then if you want another one, I’d go for this. It still has some great gimmicks, the Permet decals are a wonderful touch, and you won’t have to worry about buying a separate CS frame.