How realistic are they? And could they be used for modelling references?

Hey daz
My experience of them is that they are reasonable representations of a 'generic' kind of scheme...some of the individual ones are pretty good, but don't go by the colours so much as that changes a huge ammount depending on your screen/game set ups. One thing they are good for is the cockpit shots...some of them are just awesome...check out the interior of the Gladiators next time you go flying...they are probably the best in the game.