Hiway Yellow Paint

[oldparker]

Can somebody please tell me a number for Ditzler or DuPont highway yellow paint so I don't have to buy it from the Caterpillar dealer. I know I saw a DuPont number at one time in the Forum, but I can't locate it now. All the threads I look at point to the Caterpillar dealer for the paint, but I am sure that other manufacturers have a code for it. Anybody got it? Thanks.

[tw]

If it does not get posted by tomorrow I will get the number off a can I have of it at work. A dupont #

[Catmatt]

The cat paint is nice to work with, and cost isn't that bad. Why not the cat paint?

[bcwayne]

The number for DuPonts Acrylic Enamel is 421A. It sprays and covers well, but its also pricey compared to Cats paints, or Rustoleum, or others.
Here are a couple of pics of a D-2 painted with the 421A.

[oldparker]

Thanks to ypou who responded to my inquiry about highway yellow paint. I called a DuPont dealer and and was quoted a price of $145.90 per gallon for their #421A paint plus the necessary hardener plus the necessary thinner. Next I called a dealer in Ohio who had the highway yellow in stock. He told me that the shipping would be outrageous because of the hazardous materials surcharge and that it would be way more than the gas it would take to drive to my closest dealer 60 miles away. I called my dealer, Milton Cat in Batavia, NY, and they had the two gallons I needed. When I went there they assured me that the #4C4185 was the correct authentic color for the old highway yellow. Their price was $56.34 per gallon plus $16.78 for a gallon of the recommended thinner #4C4189. When I got home I stirred up a gallon and took the paint stir stick out to one of my freshly cleaned D2's and it was a perfect match. I am very happy with the whole transaction. I hope this helps the other people who need to paint their Cats, and I hope this puts to rest all the other numbers, names, and formulas that I have seen floating around. This is the real deal!
Also, the folks at Milton Cat told me that they don't always have this paint in inventory, and sometimes it must be ordered, so it would be prudent to call ahead to your Cat dealer and see if they have it in stock.

[chriscokid]

do you know if you can get the old cat grey at a dealer also.

[oldparker]

You could ask them but I seriously doubt it. ACMOC has a list of paint codes for the early colors. Try them. Good luck, John

[tw]

John, the numbers at the ACMOC site are Federal Standard #s. I have gotten them matched fom Dupont in Nason or Diamond Vogel paint. That is the gray and red.

[ewingjh]

Don't forget that 2 part Dupont paint-probably polyurethane- is much more expensinve that the ordinary alkyde enamel that cat is selling and it will stay glossy years longer. Jim PS There is a tugboat company in boston that undercoats with 2 part epoxy, final color coates with 2 part polyurethane and finishes with a polyclearcoat. They look like megayacths and they work 24 hrs a day and this finish lasts ten + years.

[Toby Nelson]

I have found that DuPont or Ditzler/PPG paints are much superior to most anything out there when it comes to durability and long lasting finish, when proper preparation has been done before spraying. Any paint will look good when it is new, the difference starts to show after a couple of years. It is just a matter of what results you are looking to achieve. Say if it is just a hobby machine and all you want is some fresh color most any paint will do the job just fine. The machines I have restored for show got the best quality primers and paints I could find because of the extensive labor I invested in the preperation. Absolute cleanliness is mandatory or even expensive paints won't perform. I have sprayed cheaper paints as well as the top of the line and can without a doubt say you do still get what you pay for.