A 10-METRE croc will cruise the streets of Tweed Heads next week - but the public won't have any cause for alarm as it will be strapped down on the back of a truck .

Oh, and it's made from steel rods and 120kg of foam.

Tweed artist Richard Colson spent the past six weeks shaping blocks of foam into a 10m crocodile to be delivered to a national restaurant chain next week.

He had previously completed 30 crocodiles for the restaurant at locations across Australia.

"I always do something different on each one of them to entertain myself," he said.

"It might be something like the turn of the head, or the tail."

Mr Colson said despite these small differences, his creations were realistic to the last scale.

"The scales are completely different from the front to the back of the animal and every crocodile is slightly different," he said.

"I love them; have studied them for years, read all the stuff about them from National Geographic and places like that.

"Look, see this single row of spines on the tail, on a small croc these are longer but as they get bigger then it's not so high up on the tail.

"They are so cool; it just has this armour all over its body."

Despite his admiration for the crocodile, Mr Colson puts his hand to any sculpturing or painting that helps to "pay the mortgage".

Millions of people across Australia and the world have seen his art but it has never been on exhibition at any gallery.

He designed and created the Flight Centre pilot that has stood outside 7000 outlets around the world.

"I am a realist, the art that I do is for the commercial market.

"I also did a sculpture of George Gregan that went to the Rugby World Cup in France."

Mr Colson not only sculpts but also paints all his creations.

Before moving into his Tweed Heads workshop he was doing design and construction for Dreamworld and spent five years at the Gold Coast Arts Theatre.