He reminds me of my cousin who would spend HOURS zipping and unzipping our suitcases when we came to visit. He wanted to know how they worked. He's in engineering now.

When I was a kid, about 5 years younger, I had a sailor suit and a soldier's khaki uniform ... later I joined the Coast Guard

manufacturer of Erector Sets and American Flyer trains...

The tower struts and flat strapping look very familiar but the angled struts at the top are different than the erector set I had. Must be unique to this set. Oh yeah, the sets had electric motor(s) included because I recall making a helicopter with rotating main and tail rotors. My fingers got sore from all those square nuts and my screwdriver kept slipping out of those slotted head bolts! An ever-popular creation was an elevator. I'd spread the leaves on Mom's kitchen table and that way it was a long lift from the floor. Did the same thing with tinkertoys.

Back in the good old days, if you wanted a Transformer you had to make one, and that was the fun of it. I think we were smarter for it.

..from some sort of engineering job, if I had a guess.

This ain't no battery powered job, is it. An all metal toy assembled by an 8 year old and powered by a 120 volt DC motor. No wonder his hair is kind of standing on end!

I remember every piece on that Erector Set. I loved these sets as a kid and had many of them. Ahh... memories!