Hey, Losthighway, I am a little late to your thread, but have experience with traditional log building and cabin kits and I must say unless you have help and are in good shape, a kit is the way to go. Clarify that further by saying, in my mind a log cabin and log home are different in scope and size.
Whether you build a home or cabin read up on the building techniques before anything else.
My inspiration for a log cabin was from Calvin Rutstrum's book THE WILDERNESS CABIN and I built a simple round log "saddle notched" 10'x12' "trappers cabin". Subsquently, I built two larger "saddle notched" cabins and a "saddle notched" horse barn. Then I built a 3 bedroom home of square logs with dove-tailed corners.
Books that were helpful were:
THE FOXFIRE BOOK edited by Eliot Wigginton
BUILDING A LOG HOUSE IN ALASKA by Cooperative Extension Service, College Alaska
CABINS, LODGES & BUNBGALOWS by Editorial Staff of Popular Science Monthly
IN HARMONY WITH NATURE by Christian Bruyere and Robert Inwood
HEWN LOG HOUSE by Charles McRaven
HAND-HEWN by William C. Leitch
HOW TO BUILD AND FURNISH A LOG CABIN by W. Ben Hunt
CABINS AND COTTAGES by Editors of Time-Life Books
FROM THE GROUND UP by John Cole and Charles Wing
LOW-COST ENERGY-EFFICIENT SHELTER edited by Eugene Eccli
My last log cabin I built is what you would call a semi-kit. I drew up plans and shopped them out to three different log home/cabin builders. All I wanted was full logs, rafters, floor joists and roof sheeting.
I chose a builder/sawmill that supplied the round logs with cut saddle notches, log length to window and door openings and rough sawn lumber. All other materials I purchased through local building centers. Saved a lot of money by building my own window and door bucks.
I hired two semi-trucks to haul the material from the builder/sawmill.
Finished project.