How it all started

One day a good friend of mine had an enquiry for a futuristic military character. He was a scenic artist and he had no concept of how to achieve armies of slick, three dimensional characters. He was, however, an excellent artist with an enviable outlook on life and with a common passion for motor cars. When he asked me if I could make him something workable, I didn't think twice..." Andrew Ainsworth talking about how he became involved in making the original props for ANH.

The Twickenham connection

The Green, Twickenham, showing Andrew's and Nick's premises.

In 1976, Nick Pemberton, a successful scenic artist and puppeteer and Andrew Ainsworth, a recently qualified Industrial Designer from Ealing Art School, lived a couple of buildings apart on Twickenham Green, England. They both worked from their premises which were Victorian shops with out-buildings at the rear.

Twickenham is in an old part of South West London. It was an artistic and creative environment in which to work, surrounded by film and television studios, theatres and famous landmarks which heralded the early days of rock music.

ANH first contact

Nick was approached by the Star Wars 'buyer' to make various helmets and ancillary items for the film. As Nick recalls, 'the film was just another no hoper'; he was also very busy at the time on a large puppetry job for Tyne Tees television in Newcastle.

Nevertheless he took the job on, with the intention of convincing Andrew to produce the characters as Nick was impressed with the plastic moulding techniques that Andrew was developing, just a couple of doors away (see image below).

SDS vacuum formed ABS kayak with cockpit formed by undercuts (1975)

Nick's diaryThe 1976 ANH Prop Diaries
It so happened that Nick Pemberton employed a secretary who meticulously recorded every day’s operations in a diary. While re-visiting the ANH prop making history, we found the 1976 diary in a wheelbarrow, along with all his other diaries, in the back of Nick's workshop. This formed a significant disclosure in the court case that Andrew Ainsworth fought with Lucas to assert Andrew's involvement as the original prop maker. states that at first, he only had contact with George Lucas, as at that early stage, there really wasn't anyone else - John Mollo (ANH Costume Designer) had not been employed at that stage - and in any event Mollo`s remit did not include the Stormtrooper. It was obvious that the film was to be made on a shoestring, as John Mollo states in an interview with Charles Lippincott on 6 April 1978: 'It was a live fashion show, and George said, "I don't like that" or "I don't like this". And so anyway, there was very little drawing done, it was really more of a practical make do and mend.'

This opinion is supported by Ralph McQuarrie`s (ANH Concept Artist) statement in an interview referring to the challenges of making the film, when he said that 'they would have the biggest problems making the Stormtroopers.' This sets the scene for Lucas' uphill battle to fulfill his dream...a fantastic achievement given the circumstances and lack of resources.

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