The issue is related to the recent base Sins update; it changed the way the rendering engine works, and added a lot of functionality related to loading mesh normals with higher resolution details, etc.

Unfortunately a few of the ships look less than stellar now, and are going to eventually need to be redone - which I must note, is being done currently. I'm not sure what the plan for the Sahara is, but it's likely to get a facelift in the future, that will clear up the issue in the recent releases.