Van Oaks Props built this movie-style mad-scientist contraption almost entirely from dollar-store finds — plastic wine glasses, pill bottle caps, string lights — and still landed the finished piece at $16. Paint and weathering do the heavy lifting: faux wood grain, aged metal, a weathered copper patina, and pill bottle caps turned into control knobs. No lightning arcs between the towers, but plenty of B-movie charm for less than a movie ticket.