Our resident model expert Andy Pearson gets all animated over some of his cartoon favourites...

A much-loved duck attends a costume party as Godzilla

I have a friend (I did have two but one escaped) who is not only a talented maker of models but also someone who crafts the tools used in that field of endeavour. He works, as do I, as a freelance and has, in abundance, that quality that sorts many of the very best freelancers from the rest of the workforce: he is a master of prevarication. Now I’m not against pushing the limit where deadlines are concerned myself but my chum works in such a specialised area that he imposes his own time-lines on work which is as close to a DIY version of infinity as it may be possible to achieve.

By way of example, he once confided in me that he’d had an inspired idea for an amusing diorama, one featuring cartoon characters loved by millions. He’d also outlined his proposal to the publisher of a USA-based specialist magazine who had greeted the suggestion with some enthusiasm. That was getting on for two years ago so I assume the issue of the publication in question is not being held pending the arrival of his magnum opus.

Of course he may have very legitimate excuses for the delay. He lives in what I gather is a fairly isolated part of the ‘States and, during one email exchange he had to interrupt our conversation. A bear had appeared at the front of his home and his small dog was outside having canine hysterics that might annoy the woodland visitor to the point where it could choose to address the source of the barking at close quarters. My friend later told me that the white picket fences so beloved of idealised American home life don’t present much of a barrier to an adult bear. The bottom line was that, despite the intervention of the local wildlife, it seemed that such an inordinate amount of time was being taken on the diorama project that a prompt was in order.