It will cost you a lot less in the long run to buy a kit rather than buying just wood. Plus, there are MANY things about the engineering of an aircraft that you do not know about - Things like "Which way should the wood grain run?" or, "Where do you use Balsa and where do you use Ply, and where do you use Hardwood?"

Do yourself a favor, and save a lot of money and heartaches - Buy a kit!

Once you have put a few planes together from kits, THEN you may want to consider building from scratch.