ORIGINAL: mclina
Armed with a 20% off coupon, I took a drive to my nearest Harbor Freight this morning and picked up a belt/disc sander. With the coupon, it was about $59. It took me a while to tighten every screw and bolt on the machine, and get the table squared up, but it seems like it will do the job.
I'm waiting to see what goes on sale at Sears for Memorial day. I'm either going to get a 10" band saw or a scroll saw.
MCLINA,
First off. good luck with the scratch build. It takes a lot of patience and I time I am sure. Just building from a kit is time consuming I can't imagine making all the pieces too, but man oh man will you be proud of your plane when you are done.
As far as Harbor Freight tools, they are great. I have never had a problem with any of their tools. I have had my table saw and mitre for about 8 years now and they are still ticking. the prices are great and for doing work on balsa and plane wood they are perfect. I wouldn't use them for construction work probably but they sure did a great job on my decks. :-) just my two cents worth.
I look foward to watching your build.
Joe