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Neighbours and passers-by have been curious about what's been brewing in Johan Lotz's yard. The man has spent the past three months constructing a three-metre high padlock in his backyard in Strand. But the giant fibreglass lock is far from genuine. It's for a storage company in Maitland. The dummy that weighs 90 kg is part of signage that will be attached to the front of a building in Voortrekker Street.

Lotz is quite amused by all the attention. People passing by his house in Grey Street and saw him working on the oddity have stopped to chat.

"Some cars drive past, stop and reverse. As soon as I get up and walk over, they race away," he says, adding that he has another six dummy locks to produce.

Lotz began making fibreglass models when he was with an advertising agency in Johannesburg many years ago. When he left, he kept up the work constructing all kinds of models, including a enlarged copy of World Cup Rugby's Webb-Ellis Trophy for Checkers supermarkets; a giant chipmunk for Chappies bubblegum; and even oversized beercans and courtroom gavels.

He and his wife moved to the Western Cape some six months ago.

Ironically, the larger-than-life models keep him busy when he's not working on miniature paintings - he's one of three members of the SA Miniature Art Association in the Cape and one of some 50 around the country. He is also an accomplished airbrush artist.

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