The paint is an old paint for their FS9 F-14, I converted it over to FSX, and it looks pretty good (much better than their default paints).
If it looks better in your shots than what it really looks like, what made it different? Did you edit them?
Color and contrast can drastically enhance the appearance of an object

Most of those were taken in the early afternoon in the middle of Utah; with the sun way up in the sky, casting down on the aircraft, it really brings out the surfaces and tends to make the aircraft look meaner and more lively.
But if you take a look at the cockpit/canopy area on the aircraft especially the glass (Iris made it completely non reflective...) it looks so flat that it almost detaches itself from the rest of the aircraft.
In the first screen shot, if you compare the nose of the aircraft with the rest, the lighting on it is alot flatter, and less aesthetically pleasing...
...and as for the editing, I just resized, no editing. I was actually thinking about doing some color corrections in photoshop and putting them in the edited section, but I'm too lazy for that...
Well, if you like military fighters, then I guess its worth buying. Its much better than their FS9 version, by a long shot; but considering all the bugs, and the stock aircraft (textures are so bland and shiney, they would've made Stevie Wonder twitch, VC is still not up to standards IMO, and the aircraft flies like a very aerodynamic brick under mil power. its not really worth the 35-ish bucks...especially when you you consider the fact that the F-14 is in the same price range as the Aerosoft F-16A/AM/C, and the H-1B...or like I said before, VFR+ Utah, which covers the entire damn state...