Now you can build your own, non-functioning flux capacitor for just $30

The flux capacitor, as most movie fans know, is an essentially magical, lit-up gizmo that makes time travel possible in Robert Zemeckis’ Back To The Future franchise, an enterprise that now encompasses three feature films, an animated series, several theme park attractions, and countless examples of hyper-detailed Doc/Marty slash fiction. While Future fanatics may never be able to duplicate the results achieved by Christopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox in the films, they can build their own, merely decorative flux capacitors at home using such commonplace items as a cardboard box, rope lights, washers, duct tape, and plenty of spray paint. This is the gospel according to filmmaker Dustin McLean, whose AWE me YouTube channel contains a series called DIY Prop Shop, which offers step-by-step instructions on replicating famous movie props, including a Terminator arm, a Ghostbusters ghost trap, and an Iron Man arc reactor. The latest episode, “Make Your Own Flux Capacitor,” is not McLean’s first attempt at imitating the Future franchise. A previous DIY Prop Shop installment was devoted to those ever-tempting hoverboards from the 1989 sequel.