With time, second hand instruments, good second hand engine - you can. I've come across people who have achieved their own aeroplane under £10k with something like an X'Air or some of the LAA single seaters. Buying a part built kit from somebody who gave up can help.
I have around 500hrs behind or in front of 2-stroke engines: so far they've given me one engine problem bad enough to land me in a field. Another 800ish hours in 4-stroke engined aeroplanes has furnished me with several more such bits of entertainment.
2 strokes are cheap, light, a bit noisy, a bit thirsty. For low utilisation homebuilts and microlights, they make a lot of sense. They aren't particularly problematic compared to the 4-stroke variety as fitted in microlights and homebuilts.
G
Last edited by Genghis the Engineer; 22nd Oct 2013 at 18:10.