Problem model?

Meccano Magazine, pg 594, July 1928

I've been re-reading a few of my books on Buckminster Fuller and geodesic domes. In Buckminster Fuller: Anthology for a  New Millennium from 2001 I came across this footnote by Sir Harold W. Kroto, co-winner of the 1996 Noble Prize in Chemistry for the co-discovery of buckminsterfullerene:

Incidentally, I lay the blame for the dearth of engineers and scientists in the West fairly squarely on the fact that Lego has replaced Meccano as a "toy" of choice in many homes in the developed world. I use the word "toy" advisedly, because Lego is a toy, whereas Meccano is not only a toy but also an amazing introduction to the world of real engineering. It gives the child a real understanding of how nuts and bolts should be put together. They learn to tighten a nut and bolt sufficiently tightly to not misthread it, and they get a feel for materials and learn how metal structures actually work. (An anecdote: A retired gentleman, who kindly came to display his amazing pantographs to young children at the 1999 BA festival in Sheffield, told me that he made a four-speed gearbox when he was eleven, and when he got his first job, at twelve, he was essentially already trained for it).

This footnote is part of Sir Kroto's essay on some of the history of geodesic spheres. In the essay he makes note of a photo in a 1928 issue of Meccano Magazine of a geodesic sphere made from Meccano that was built by one of the magazine's readers. The essay includes a grainy reproduction of the photo, so I thought I'd hunt down the original. As well as being a much clearer picture of the structure, it has an editorial comment not included in Sir Kroto's essay. The editors aren't sure what this structure could be used for, but "it might be used as a "problem model," for a great deal of concentration is necessary to discover exactly how many pentagons and hexagons are included in its design."

Problem model? An interesting idea.