Brad Kaylor has turned his childhood passion into a part-time profession.
We're talking Legos, Lincoln Logs and Girder & Panelespecially Legos.
Kaylor has been toying around ( no pun intended ) since he was 5, when his grandparents gave him his first erector set. Now he's building life-like, extremely detailed replica buildings out of Legos and other traditional childhood toyssome as high as nine feet tall and weighing 100 pounds or so.
He extrapolates paradigm schematics of material, light, shape and function in his various pieces. His primary focus is structural integrity, and he fuses art with imagination and brings a sense of modern-day relevance to his towers.
Kaylor's works include swimming pools, dance clubs, motor-driven rotating restaurants and lightsall powered with green-energy, LED components.
"I don't know, maybe this is my calling in life," said Kaylor, who built a nine-foot-tall rendition of the Sears Towerwhen it was named as such.
In fact, he's built and sold his version of the Sears Tower 10 times.
He can build the Sears Tower in one day, if focused, he said.
Kaylor said it costs him up to $1,000 to build the Sears Tower out of Girder & Panel parts, or up to $2,000 if made from Legos.
He sells each for about three times his cost.
"It's a lot of fun," said Kaylor, who stores and does all his construction inside his third-story apartment. And, yes, the buildings certainly are conversation-starters, he said.
"They bring out the kid in everyone."
Kaylor has several buildings now under construction inside his apartment, and also a replica village that is modeled after Roscoe Village, with its three-story flat homes.
Kaylor's constructions have also, sadly, met ill-fated collapses. Once, a drunken friend accidentally damaged three buildings that he was ready to sell.
"The next day, I was pretty pissed, but he felt really bad [ about what happened ] ," Kaylor said.
To date, Kaylor has sold about 25 buildingsand estimates that, in his lifetime, he has spent $50,000 on the traditional childhood toys, including about 3,000 model cars.
"I love Legos. They are my peace," Kaylor said. "I have no regrets. I really enjoy it and they definitely are good conversation pieces."
In addition to building detailed replicas of established buildings, Kaylor also constructs his own buildings. Each is so detailed, right down to a policeman eating a donut in one.
Kaylor's dream is for an architect to build a building based on one of his models. "That would be awesome," he said.
THE STATS
Name: Brad Kaylor
Neighborhood: Warren Park
Birthplace: Kassel, Germany
Pets: Three dogs ( named Sassy Sausage, Schnicker Doodle and Nibbles ) , one cat ( Bobo Jenkins ) , 10 fish and three turtles
Relationship status: Single
Job title: Assistant branch manager
( Fed Ex ) and chief architect ( Kaylor Concepts )
Education: Graduated from Kansas State University in 1993
Memories: Kaylor has more than 500 photos on display, pinned into the walls at his home. "Who has time to dig out old [ photo ] albums," he said.