Sources for painting Old West wagons

[FifteensAway]

I'm wondering if anyone has found a really good source for painting Old West wagons in authentic period colors?  I've seen lots of wagons that are from the period (I live near California's gold rush region) and I've seen plenty of wagons with modern paint jobs.  Trouble is, the old wagons show really, really old wood and I don't know if the modern paint jobs are authentic - and certainly the modern paint won't match to the period colors available.

Why such desire for authenticity?  Well, I will be painting a total of eighty wagons, carts, and stagecoaches - and even a couple of army limbers and gatling gun carriages.  This will be for my Old West setup.  Yup, I'm a bit obsessed when it comes to my old west collection.

Appreciate anyone who can shed some light.  I know I can check the painted work of other modelers but I can't know if there color choices were imaginative or based on authentic information.

Thanks!

[Cory]

I looked into that several years ago. Best source I found were period poster ads that can be ferreted out online. Some older wagons, especially the Conestogas, appear to have been treated with just linseed oil or whitewash.

By 1890 or so the posters are showing a lot of green, blue, and red wagons and black carriages. I suspect this reflects not a sudden rush to paint the wagons but a change in cost of printing color posters and the emergence of larger national scale manufacturers like John Deere and Studebaker. Trim is often a different color or yellow.

[Heisler]

I would recommend this site for all the information you might need on wagons: http://www.hansenwheel.com/resources/faqs-wagon-history#undercarriiage

Specifically for color this it was he says:
Most all farm wagons were painted with bright colored gears, red, orange or yellow, while the wagon boxes were painted primarily a dark blue green, similar the hunter green we are familiar with today, the paint was an oil base consisting of pigments ground in linseed oil, providing protection and style. The bright colors of the gear and wheels hid dirt better than a dark color, and the style of the day was for work vehicles to be brightly colored. The brilliantly striped gears and bodies of the farm wagon seemed to be on the verge of gaudy or a competition amongst the many makers to produce the most marketable look.