By the way, if nobody's noticed it yet, the Shadowcaster is basically a squashed Firefly. Coincidence? Ketsu Onyo's voice actress is none other than our favourite browncoat Gina Torres.

Hmm. Now I definitely have to buy the Shadowcaster.

OK so... I like everything in Wave 9, and I'm especially pleased about the ARC-170 because I think it's an interesting looking ship (I like several ships from the prequel trilogy in fact).

And I like the paint job on the ARC-170.... mostly. It's certainly detailed looking. And I like the weathered feel. But what about the odd asymmetrical coloring? Red markings on body and one wing/engine, grey markings on the other wing/engine.

This approach makes the ARC-170 look really old indeed - as if it's been repaired many times, maybe even with parts from another ARC-170.

This look is GREAT.... for a single, unique ARC-170. But I'm worried about the aesthetics of fielding multiple ARC-170s at once. All of a sudden that super distinctive weathering/painting pattern is duplicated on multiple ships and that unique look ISN'T unique anymore. That's why perhaps a more generic paint job with subtler weathering might have been better overall.... so that a table with multiple ARC-170s doesn't look strange.

Any thoughts?

I doubt it's that they're not allowed. Honestly, they just have a sh*tty modeler doing the work. None of the Rebels stuff even matches the production images that Disney puts out to the public, in terms of proportion, or paneling. That's why we keep getting these sh*tty nonsense models where instead of sensible paneling and greebling, we get weird slits and panel scribing that just... ends. In the middle of nowhere. If you want proof that it's FFG's mediocre modeling team, and not the license, look at the terrible paneling job on the Raider. It's like a child scribbled on that thing.

Wow I didn't see it that way. I agree that line lines to no-where on the Raider are lame; but I love the Fantasy Flight Star Wars miniatures. Both the detail of the figure itself and the painting. Sure there has been highs and lows. The best, IMHO, being the Falcon and the Lambda being not very good at all. I'll even go further and say I wish they had put far more effort into the painting of the CR-90. Just wish it was stepped up a notch but still very nice.

But over all I'm very pleased with their quality.