I'll give you a little history about the model file formats first to try and explain what all the different file types are for.
Originally the old world models were stored as SPK files inside the s3d files, these are text files that contain all of the geometry/bone/texturing info about a model. Sometime in the past VI decided this was bad and moved them over to a binary format, they used the same format which they store the zones in (.WLD format) which is a semi-encrypted binary format.
As you can imagine, trying to read a model out of .WLD files is a lot more complicated that parsing a text SPK file. I've not done too badly with the WLD files so far, the only thing I can't work out is where the bone information is stored in the skinned models. Non-skinned models like the weapons work fine from WLD files. Because I can only obtain the bone positions correctly from SPK files, they're the only skinned models that come out correctly.
Interestingly, within chequip.s3d there is a single WLD file which contains binary versions of all the spk files. I presume this is the file that the client loads the old world models from so you don't have to have two code paths for loading models (one for wld and one for spk). The models within this WLD file won't display correctly in the model viewer.
To answer your questions specifically, as far as I am aware there are no SPK files other than those in chequip.s3d. I'm guessing that format has been obsolete for a long time. WLD files can contain pretty much anything except image maps. Zone geometry, models, material libraries, animation data, zone object position/definitions etc. can all be stored in WLD files. The image maps are stored individually inside s3d files with either a BMP or DDS extension (some of the bmp files are really dds files in disguise).
The image maps you say are missing from the WLD file inside chequip.s3d aren't there, you are correct. They are stored in chequip.s3d itself, if you extract it you'll get thousands of texture files. The alternate faces won't show up in the model viewer as it only picks the first texture it finds, you can alter this if you export the models to 3dsmax. The textures for the faces and armour types are all numbered (e.g. GNMHE0001.bmp might be the first gnome face, GNMHE0001.bmp would be the second).
And, yeah .. I just sort of assumed everyone would have middle button, sorry about that
K.