New board
Stable 2.3 r30625 checked out and compiled according to http://ufoai.ninex.info/wiki/index.php/DebianSkins appear to be missing; instead, I get red-glowing models as in the following screenshots
No skin for #0 of 'models/.....md2
Textures are probably missing from your pk3-s somehow.
svn co https://ufoai.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/ufoai/ufoai/branches/ufoai_2.3 ufoai_2.3
Nevermind... I ran a full system update (gentoo) and now the thing works. I did fulfill the ufoai deps prior to doing this - so as far as I know, it could have been anything. It's funny how minute details can affect functionality.