The AK kits are still available, you just need to look around a bit.
AR’s are exponentially easier to “build” aka assemble, and the lower can be finished with the proper jig, a drill press and a router.
I recommend that a group of friends gets together and has a build party.
As far as the tooling goes, say ten people get together, one person buys the jig(s) and the next person “buys” it from the first for $20 less, and so on until the jig only cost each one of them $20. This is a certain loophole for a couple of jurisdictions. And changes in ATF regulations.
One thing I recommend is if you are going to build, build it plain and simple. This may sound convoluted but if you decide to take your “funky gun” to the range and the wrong person sees it, say if you were building something that without its welded barrel extension qualifies as an SBR, but you just wanted to test fire it before the extension arrived….
Another reason for simple and standard is parts swapping/availability. When the dust cover on your AKM gets dented its an easy and cheap part to locate. The Krink? Not so much.