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“In this issue you will fit the flux capacitor – which makes time travel possible…”

Contents

Parts

Materials: All of the non-electrical parts in this issue are plastic.

Magazine

• Drive Time: Model Instructions
• Production Diary: Rejuvenating Doc Brown
• A Time Traveler’s Guide: Watching Headlines Change

Build

The Flux Capacitor

Step 1

Push the Flux Capacitor into the matching holes of the Case Back, as shown:

Step 2

Secure the Flux Capacitor into place from behind with three (3) AP screws:

Step 3

Secure the Case Front to the Case Back with two (2) AP screws.

I’ll be honest with you here. I was so disappointed in this Flux Capacitor that I actually forgot to take this photo… keep reading.

Step 4

Fit this case assembly to the Bulkhead (Upper) by aligning the posts and holes, as shown:

Step 5

Push Pipe (58D) into place as shown, connecting the case to the Bulkhead (Upper).

The lower part of the pipe fits into a slot in the top of the Case Back, then you can press the pin of the upper part into the Bulkhead:

Step 6

Push Pipe (58G) into place as shown, connecting the case to the Bulkhead (Upper).

This Pipe has pins on each end. One is thicker than the other (on the left in this photo):

As with the previous pipe, slide the thinner pin into the slot on top of the Case Back, then push the thick end into the Bulkhead:

Step 7

Secure the case to the bulkhead from behind with two (2) BP screws.

Ok, this is where I decided the madness had to end and I stopped using the stock Flux Capacitor. I simply cannot mount this hideous thing in my car. Let me explain, the stock unit is lit by a single blue LED that looks awful and doesn’t even blink or change. This is, by far, the most iconic part of the entire vehicle! Thankfully, all is not lost. Thanks to Chloe over at Model Modz, we can purchase their Flux Capacitor Mod.

Take a look. This is a side-by-side comparison of the stock (left) and Model Modz (right) Flux Capacitors after powering them up:

The one from Model Modz doesn’t have any stupid screws on the front, it has the correct Torr Labs vacuum relays and wiring replicated inside, it has the correct pipes already attached, and best of all, it is animated. The lights pulsate like the real car, slowly speeding up and then bursting white to simulate the time travel sequence. And, it is scaled correctly to the actual Stahlin J1210HPL enclosure in the real car. All of these things make this Flux Capacitor much more accurate to the Flux Capacitor in The ‘A’ Car pictured below:

For those who are still going to use the stock Flux Capacitor, I will quickly skim through the remaining steps, then follow up with installing this new one.

Steps 8-11

Fit Pipe (58E) into place as shown, between the case and the Bulkhead (Upper). Secure this Pipe into place from behind the bulkhead with one (1) AP screw. Push Pipe (58F) into place as shown, between the case and the Bulkhead (Upper). Secure this Pipe into place from behind the bulkhead with one (1) AP screw.

I combined all of these steps for those who are not using the Model Modz Flux Capacitor to show what it would look like:

Step 12

Push Pipe (58H) into place as shown, between the case and the Bulkhead (Upper). Secure this Pipe into place from behind the bulkhead with one (1) AP screw:

On the real car, this pipe is not only a different color, but a different shape. Boo!

Steps 14-16

Insert the tip of the LED on the Cable through this hole behind the bulkhead and into the case. Carefully bend the Cable over and flat against the back of the bulkhead panel, routing it between the posts. Fix the Tab into place over the posts with one (1) AP screw.

I did not even do any of these steps as it is time to install the The Flux Capacitor Mod from Model Modz.

Mod Step 1

The first thing we need to do is widen the center hole where the old LED should have been. This needs to be big enough to allow the plugs/wires from the new Flux Capacitor to fix through (approximately 1/4″ or 6mm):

Mod Step 2

Next, we need to feed all three of the plugs from the new Flux Capacitor through the hole, as shown:

Mod Step 3

This new Flux Capacitor is not held in place with screws, but with double sided adhesive tape. We need to carefully remove it:

Mod Step 4

Then, we can line up the pipes of the new Flux Capacitor to the matching holes in the Bulkhead and stick it into place:

It already looks 1000% better than the atrocious stock part:

Mod Step 5

Now, we need to add the piping details to the top. There are no slots on top of this new Flux Capacitor, so we will need to snip off the end of the small black/yellow Pipe to make it fit correctly. I ended up cutting off the entire ‘thin’ end at the yellow adapter and glued the rest into place:

Mod Step 6

Finally, we need to cut the end off the smaller silver/blue/black Pipe to make it fit right as well. I glued this part as well:

And that’s it! We are now ready to move forward with the rest of the build.

Thoughts

The FLUX CAPACITOR! Doc Brown hit his head on a toilet and came up with the design that would make time travel possible. This single device is the key to the entire Back to the Future story, and without it, there would be no point. So why did they go and ruin the most important detail of the entire build? We will never know. The one in Terry Matalas‘ replica car that they scanned was very accurate to the real thing, so they really should have done better. Thankfully, the modding community saved the day again. It is just sad for the high cost of these partworks that we got screwed on such an important part. The XMAS Tree is going to get replaced in the next issue too, as it is just as incorrect.

At least we have a lot of spare parts we will never use…

Next Up

 Issue 59 – Interior: Fan, Cables, XMAS Tree LEDs