P. Duff and Sons holds the title of "inventor of the cake mix". right around the begining of the Great Depression, Mr. Duff's company found itself with a large molassess surplus. He hit on the idea of dehydrating it and using it to create a "just add water" gingerbread mix. and thus was invented the instant cake mix. Cake mixes were more popular with Government Agencies (I.e.
here is a beautiful set of tin flat figures from Germany. These civilians may be intended to represent a "holiday" melieux, or maybe a fairytale, or Hoffman tale...hard to be sure, they are also very likely to have been included or used with early Karl Bub type O gauge windup train sets. It was a popular way to populate tabletop railroads in the era after our Civil War and before the 1st world war.
Of course, this grouping is lovely in it's own right, with the winter sleigh, the castle, and the stylish tourists...
An excellent custom kitbash headhunter from Kenner parts. the build required sacrificing an old xwing, engine parts from a y wing and an old A wing cockpit. but it's a great build progress page.
