Fisher FP-404

The FP-404 is a fun little biplane from Fisher Flying Products.  This all wood, single place biplane can be built from plans or from a kit that you can buy all at once or as sub kits.  Fisher Flying Products lists the build time as 500 hours when building from their kit.  The kit is a reasonable price and you can use a relatively inexpensive engine to get in the air without spending too much money.

While you need to watch the weight with any biplane build, that is especially true with the FP-404.  With an empty weight of 275 pounds and a gross weight of 540 pounds you could pretty severely eat into the useful load.  One other thing to consider is that the FP-404 has a max pilot weight of 200 pounds, so if this is the biplane you want to build, you might need to shave a few pounds off of yourself as well!

With a cruise speed of 72 mph the FP-404 isn't winning any speed competitions, but that isn't the point of this biplane.  It is built for low and slow flying where you can really enjoy the open cockpit.  With a take off run of 125' and a landing roll of 200' you don't need much area in which to operate it from either.

While this biplane isn't for everyone, it will be a fun little project that will give you a lot of enjoyment flying it after the build.  The best part is it doesn't break the bank.