Although Hyde isn't a galaxy far, far away you may be surprised to learn that one of Star Wars' most famous droids, R2-D2, has a home here.

The robot is the creation of Peter Brocklehurst who has faithfully recreated an exact replica of the iconic character.

R2-D2 has been doing the rounds at numerous events in and around Hyde with Peter for a number of years.

“I’ve had a fascination with Star Wars for a long time going back to the 1970s and it was always an objective of mine to do something like this,” said Peter.

“So now being part retired I had some time to commit to the project.”

Peter is an electronic engineer by trade, but also very creative - although he hadn’t really put those creative skills to the test - until now.

“This was a project to prove I could do something like this. There’s a lot of other people out there making these as well, so I thought I’d give myself a bit of a challenge and basically, that’s how it started,” he said.

Peter purchased a basic fibreglass kit for the body and head.

“In hindsight there’s a lot more people out there now doing 3D printing and perhaps that might have been the better way to go,” he added.

R2-D2 certainly causes a stir when Peter takes him out for local displays.

“I don’t really take him out very often, but he has made appearances at Morrison’s whenever there is a Star Wars promotion or film release,” Peter said.

“With my wife working at the store, it tends to be a place where I’ll take him along where there is a nice smooth surface for him to run around.”

The droid has also made appearances with the Hyde Fundraisers’ events - the most recent at the Time Tunnel Sci-Fi Spectacular in Hyde earlier this month, and Peter’s R2-D2 has also made appearances to support other fundraisers.

Peter said the most difficult part creating the droid was the mechanical elements.

“The electronics in the unit were pretty simple for me because of my experience in that field, but the stuff like getting the head to rotate and finishing the actual fibreglass components was quite difficult. He’s fully radio controlled, and he even has a soundbox inside too,” added Peter.

Any advice for would-be modellers?

“If anyone is thinking of doing an R2-D2, then definitely 3D printing is the way forward nowadays,” he said.

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