Wayne Axelson, co-owner and general manager of Backcountry Super Cubs, took some time to talk homebuilt aircraft kits with me. First, as kits go, there’s no getting around the fact that this one’s expensive. From start to finish expect to pay somewhere around $100,000 to $110,000. But, as airplanes go, that’s roughly half what you’d pay for a factory-built Super Cub replica. And if you were to sell it as a new homebuilt, you’d likely net $50,000 profit. That’s if you didn’t factor in your time. But hey, it’s a labor of love, right?

Exactly how much labor and love can you expect to put into one of these? Axelson estimates about 800 to 1,000 hours. “If you’re a really smart engineer, it’ll take you longer,” he says. “If you’re a corn farmer from Iowa, you’ll finish in a lot less time.” These kits are designed to be completed by the average person with no special skills, no welding or sophisticated machinery, nothing more than common hand tools. The biggest obstacle for some folks is that they overthink it and make it more complicated than it is.

Not surprisingly, Axelson said they consider documentation to be the most important part of their kits.

“Most of our customers have never built an aircraft kit before, and when they look at the unassembled kit, it can seem like a Space Shuttle,” he says. “But when they get into it, they quickly begin to understand that it’s actually easy and fairly straightforward.”

And for support, the large and well-established Super Cub Club at supercub.org is an extremely active community of owners, builders, and kit makers who are quick to share tips and answer questions for fellow builders.

-Dan Woods