The Model Expo/Model Shipways acrylics are the ones I referred to in my post above. I've had mixed luck with them. Some of them (mainly the brown, yellow, and off-white shades) seem to work fine; rather thick as they come out of the jar, but nice to brush when thinned with water. (I never, or rarely, use an airbrush on sailing ships.) I've had problems with some of the others. The blue shades have a greasy, waxy consistency that I find almost impossible to work with. It's entirely possible that either I got some bad jars or I've just let them get too old.
I don't have a good hobby shop here in town, but the last time I went to see my old friend Dan at Denbigh Hobbies, in Newport News, Virginia, I discovered that Testor's had added some maritime colors to its acrylic range. I don't remember all the colors, but I think that, in addition to the modern navy colors (including the greys from the various Japanese navy yards) there were several sailing ship colors. As I recall, Testor's bought the Floquil brand a few years ago; Floquil used to have a range of maritime colors, and I think these Testor's paints may be a reincarnation of them. From what I could tell on the basis of looking at the bottles they looked pretty reasonable.
If the paint companies have decided to cater to us sailing ship nuts - great. But I do hope this branch of the hobby never gets as obsessed with so-called accuracy in paint colors as the aircraft and armor folks are. They really do carry the subject to extremes - which in my personal opinion aren't entirely relevant to scale modeling. Certainly not to sailing ship modeling.
Scottrc - I haven't dug deeply into the question of American War of 1812 colors, but I wouldn't take any paint chips as gospel. There certainly were no Federal Standard colors in those days; navy yards and ships' crews mixed paint, and it undoubtedly varied from ship to ship and from time to time.
I did have a short conversation once with Capt. Tyrone Martin, CO of the Constitution during the mid-1970s, when one of her major refurbishments took place. (He's also the author of an excellent book about the Constitution, A Most Fortunate Ship - which I imagine you've read. I regard him as one of the best authorities on the subject.) He was pretty emphatic that the Constitution had a white stripe early in the war (when she was commanded by Isaac Hull), and that it changed to yellow later - possibly to encourage confusion with the British frigates. The model in the Peabody-Essex Museum of Salem, which was presented by Capt. Hull, certainly has a white stripe (and dark green bulwark interiors, if I remember correctly).
I've never seen any reference to any official USN policy on painting during the sailing ship period. Another source I can recommend, though, (forgive me if I suggest something you've already consulted) is the book on the Constitution by Thomas Gilmer with illustrations by Tom Freeman and William Gilkerson. Both of those artists do a conscientious job of research. If I remember correctly, they give her unpainted sides during the Barbary Wars, a white stripe early in the War of 1812, and a yellow stripe during the latter part of the war.
That's about all I can offer on that topic. If you find some additional hard information, please do let us know.