A few months ago, we got a glimpse of a sensationally well-detailed 1/25th-scale replica of a day-cab Freightliner assembled, with a ton of scratchbuilt parts, by Kurt McLucas of Ebensburg, Pennsylvania. Back then, Kurt told us he intended to finish the job of turning it into a southwestern Pennsylvania coal hauler by hand-creating a dump trailer.
Now it’s done. The trailer recreates an aluminum Dyna dump trailer built by J&J Truck Bodies & Trailers. It’s 100 percent made of parts that Kurt scratchbuilt, including the Ingersoll lift axle. For all of us who used Testor’s bottled silver to paint “chrome,” look at that finish. It’s called Alclad Lacquer, made in Britain and sprayed on with an airbrush. It can then be buffed to a gleaming sheen like the real thing. It’s shown below competing in the Heavy Commercial class at the L.I.A.R.S. Club contest of the Long Island Automotive Replica Society. Kurt’s model is now on display at J&J’s headquarters in Somerset, Pennsylvania. By the way, I have family roots in this area, went to school there, and coal trucks are rarely this gorgeous.
