Colin Cantwell Colin Cantwell is a concept artist who designed spacecraft for . Work on " Star Wars " . Cantwell was one of the first people George Lucas brought on board to work on what was then called " The Star Wars . " He was introduced to Lucas by Hal Barwood , who was working on " " . Cantwell invited Lucas over to his house and showed him his Steampunk - like " Superiority Machines , " which led Lucas to believe he was right for the project . Lucas had also admired Cantwell ' s work on " " . Lucas gave him a copy of " , " and Cantwell set to work on the project . Lucas tasked Cantwell with designing several vehicles and ships including the X - Wing , Y - Wing , TIE / LN Fighter , Stardestroyer , Imperial Cruiser , Death Star , Landspeeder , Sandcrawler , Millennium Falcon , and T - 16 Skyhopper . Cantwell started by sketching several drawings , based on brief conversations with George . He then took those designs and penciled concept art , which would be shown to studio executives along side Ralph McQuarrie ' s art . Cantwell created these colored - pencil works to lift George ' s spirit and enthusiasm for the project after being rejected by several studios . He also created several prototype models , based on his sketches , using a process called " kitbashing . " This involved taking pieces from several model kits to add detail to a new model . When creating his models and art , Cantwell knew that he had to design ships so that the audience could tell the difference between the ships of the good guys and bad guys . He also came up with the names of X - Wing and Y - Wing . X - Wing . When designing the X - Wing , Cantwell took inspiration from two sources : a throwing dart and a dragster . He invented the S - foils to look like a cowboy drawing his guns . The X - Wing , like other Rebel spacecraft , originally had wheels on its landing gear . This was because George Lucas had envisioned hiring the Spanish Air Force , redressing their F - 104 fighter jets as Rebel fighters , and filming them taxiing and taking off a runway . This idea was scrapped because it was deemed too expensive , and Cantwell replaced the wheels with landing pads . In his concept art , the engine thrusters had a diamond shape , but were changed to circular when the model was made . Also in his concept art , the fighter seated two people instead of one . Y - Wing / Skyhopper . For the Y - Wing , there where two designs made . One design became the current Y - Wing , and the other was a more triangular design that became the Skyhopper . For the final design of the Y - wing , everything was pretty much the same as Cantwell ' s original model . The only real changes were with the cockpit , which was redesigned by fellow model maker Joe Johnston . The Skyhopper was initially going to be the vehicle that Luke Skywalker and C - 3PO used to find R2 - D2 , but was scrapped for budget reasons . The ship did make an appearance as both a background prop and a toy model that Luke plays with . It also made an appearance in the Special Edition of " " . Its design formed the basis for the Imperial Shuttles . TIE / LN Fighter . Cantwell designed the TIEs so that the audience could instantly recognize the design , and easily tell the difference between the good guys and the bad guys . Lucas gave him a direction that the ship would have solar cells and that would power their ion engine s . When the design was finalized , Cantwell realized he forgot to put a way for the pilot to enter the craft . He then made the suggestion that they be hung from the ceiling , and entered that way . Death Star . Before working on the Death Star , Cantwell asked Lucas if the station was going to be near planets . When Lucas confirmed that it was , Cantwell decided to make the entire station silver . This way it could be easily seen at any angle in space . Cantwell hand - etched and inscribed all the details of the station so that it showed when light was cast on it . When building the Death Star prototype , the material that was used to make the model , polystyrene , had a tendency to shrink around the edge of the casting , causing a slight dip . To work around this , Cantwell came up with the idea that the station should have a trench at the equator , between the the north and south hemispheres . To convince Lucas , Cantwell suggested that the exhaust port be placed inside this trench , and have the Rebels fly along inside it . Lucas liked this idea and gave him the go - ahead . Doing this saved Cantwell a lot of work . Stardestroyer & Imperial Cruiser . In the early drafts of " Star Wars " , Stardestroyers ( spelled as one word ) and Imperial Cruisers were two different spacecraft . A Stardestroyer was a triangular , two - man fighter . Imperial Cruisers were large , aircraft carrier - like ships . Stardestroyers were launched from the Cruisers . Cantwell produced concept art for both ships . In later drafts , the two ships were merged into one . When the model was made , Cantwell made a hybrid of his two previous designs , creating the now iconic look of the Imperial Star Destroyer . " Pirate Ship " . Before it was called the " Millennium Falcon " , the ship was referenced by the production crew as a " Pirate Ship . " In the story it was a captured pirate ship that the heroes steal from the Imperials and escape to Yavin . In space , they get into a brief scuffle with Imperial fighters , and fend off several of them in the ship ' s turrets , before leaving in the escape pods . Cantwell kept this in mind when creating the concept model . Until the actual production , Cantwell ' s design was going to be the " Millennium Falcon " . Joe Johnston even built a model for filming . However , George Lucas decided not to use the design after seeing a similar ship in the series " Space : 1999 " . Lucas then opted for the now familiar " Eaten Hamburger " design . References to Cantwell ' s design , regarding several jettisoned escape pods , did make it into the final script , however . Cantwell ' s design for the " Falcon " ' s cockpit was also retained for the new design . Johnston ' s model was later repurposed as the Tantive IV . Landspeeder & Sandcrawler . Cantwell ' s design for the Landspeeder was primarily made to dissuade Lucas from plagiarizing a design from a " Buck Rogers " comic strip . It was made to get Lucas looking for other designs , and was not taken seriously by Cantwell as an actual vehicle submission . The Sandcrawler was another design that Cantwell was not enthusiastic about . It was designed so that it looked like a monster that devoured the two droids while in the desert . After " Star Wars " . When Lucas was rejected by Universal Studios , he talked to Cantwell about developing his own special - effects studio . He offered him a head position at Industrial Light & Magic . Cantwell declined , stating he did not want to be tied down , doing the exact same thing over and over again . He also cited Lucas ' s decision to sign on with 20th Century Fox , a competitor of Universal , a studio Cantwell had loyalties to .