This may sound a bit out of left field, but given the nature of the mod's re-imagining for ships never seen on-screen, (E-wing, Z-95, Assault frigate(?)) would it be too much trouble to suggest that an imperial version would have a more 'complete' looking outer hull, not unlike how early Y-wings had panels the alliance deemed unnecessary?
It looks like the alliance keeps a spine of hull plating going down the main section of the front to hold the modules together, I would think such sloppiness in design would not be tolerated by the empire in their deployments of the ship.
It could go a fair way to help differentiate the factions use of the similar ship, and add more of the relative strung-togetherness of the rebel fleet vs. the imperial navy.