The "name filters" that are used by the QFileSystemModel aren't very well documented. But I'm going to assume they're probably the same format as the ones used by the QFileDialog in its setNameFilter(s):
http://doc.qt.nokia.com/stable/qfiledialog.html#setNameFilter
If so, those aren't regular expressions. They're an odd format of text, followed by parentheses containing command-line-terminal-style wildcards.
So I'm guessing this would work:
model_->setNameFilters(
QStringList("Supported files (*.cpp *.cxx *.c *.hpp *.h)"));
In general, unless documentation or the name of the function indicates otherwise, I'd be careful to assume that places that take filters as a QString would know what to make of a regular expression!