Bruce Pickering uses paulownia to build radio-controlled model planes. The fuselage and tail of the De Havilland Beaver (top two images) are made of paulownia. The wings are glass fibre over polystyrene foam. The model has a 3-metre wingspan, and is powered by a 45cc petrol motor.

The second model is a Lockheed Sirius and has a wingspan of 2.5 metres. It is powered by a 35cc petrol motor. The entire model is covered with paulownia machined to 1.5mm thick.

Last term, teacher Tom Peyton bought a pile of paulownia offcuts and used them to make CO2 Dragsters with his students as part of their Hard Materials classes. Check out the finished racers in the video below.

Nigel Armitage recently constructed a paulownia hull for a one-metre radio controlled yacht. He used 3mm strip planking, followed with a layer of fibreglass. His previous boat was built using balsa (shown in the background). He’s hoping that using paulownia will reduce the finished weight of the yacht.