Having "var appiumconfig = '.appiumconfig';" does not work.
After our buildout the .appiumconfig file is under: node_modules/appium/.appiumconfig
Do you want me to do a find for .appiumconfig?  I resisted doing that because it would slow down the code.
If my coding is wrong, then isn't the clientPath (line 103 of instruments_client_launcher.js) also wrong because it 1st looks for bin/instruments-client.js under node_modules/appium/bin/instruments-client.js - so I thought I would be fine just looking under node_modules/appium/.appiumconfig

As far as our setup - you can run our buildout (should only take 2 minutes of editing) by doing the 4 steps below.
But here is a rough idea of our paths:
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parts/buildout-node <- buildout-node tree
An example of a path:
parts/npm/lib/node_modules/appium/lib/devices/ios/uiauto/lib/instruments_client_launcher.js

We found it was necessary to create this symlink (our buildout script below automates this step):
node_modules@ -> parts/npm/lib/node_modules
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Create ~/temp directory & cd into it:
1. wget http://downloads.buildout.org/2/bootstrap.py
2. Create a buildout.cfg with this contents:
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[buildout]
parts = npm edit-appium-config symlinks

[npm]
recipe = gp.recipe.node
npms = wd
       appium
scripts = appium

[edit-appium-config]
recipe = collective.recipe.cmd:py
on_install = true
cmds=
  >>> import json, subprocess
  >>> appium_config = os.path.abspath(subprocess.check_output(["find ./parts/npm/lib -name .appiumconfig"], shell=True).strip())
  >>> data = json.load(open(appium_config))
  >>> node_path = os.path.abspath(subprocess.check_output(["find ./parts -name node -type f"], shell=True).strip())
  >>> data['node_bin'] = node_path
  >>> with open(appium_config, 'w') as outfile:
  >>>     json.dump(data, outfile, separators=(',',':'))

[symlinks]
recipe = cns.recipe.symlink
symlink_base = ${buildout:directory}
symlink = parts/npm/lib/node_modules = node_modules
autocreate = true
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Run (python 2.7):
3. python bootstrap.py
4. bin/buildout