i remember seeing pauls yahoo pics years ago he also posted his early work on the replica prop board ( not rpf ) but any links are long dead since the flickr merge sadly but they did exist
it was rpf member James Kenobi 1138 he also made the connection with the death star part.
unless new photos turn up i don't think we will ever know 100% what they used
personally im not a fan of any of the replicas made so far