Red Sky Mods - Part Two

[Capt' Brian]

Before that thread was posted the other day about Redsky pics I had never seen it. Before I stumbled on a pic of one of your mods on the vape porn website I had never even heard of red sky mods. Those Crusier IIs are great-looking mods at a wonderful price, but you can't make any profit off of them unless people know that they are there. Cappy, imho you have a wonderful product; top line vvs, well crafted $89 box mods (a real bargain and a profit maker), awesome and diverse caddies. Other than raising the price a little(careful though, there is a lot of well respected vv mods @ $200-$225) on the top dawgs you need more exposure. I know at the same price as other top mods I would have still chosen a RSM but I couldn't have if I didn't know you existed.
What about a dedicated vender forum at ECF (granted I don't have any clue what that takes)? It would put your main thread, contests, pictures, tank discussions, rebuildable atty discussions, etc all under one RSM roof.
Anyway, hope I'm not overstepping my boundaries as a newer mate on the ship, I just want to see good things for the accommodating guy who makes a great mod.
And I still like a "pegleg" drip tip! Maybe you could resell espresso colored tips or something, lol!

What you say is true, advertising should never be undervalued and RSM is still just one straw in the haystack, easily overlooked. With that said though, I have seldom had any problem selling anything I made almost as fast as I made it. That was never the problem, it's just that at the end of the batch with mostly empty shelves I would do the books and scratch my head. Where was all the dough? I mentioned last batch that I need to replace an old cheap'o $99 bandsaw. I wanted to do that after this last batch only to discover after buying parts and supplies that I didn't have even enough to replace it with another $99 bandsaw!

Made me stop and take a breath and try to figure out what was wrong. Until I replace that crappy little bandsaw it is going to be hard to make any mods at all. Yeah, something isn't right when something like that is happening. Perhaps I should have just increased them ten or twenty bucks along the way occasionally and I would be sitting better than I am now, but I was always afraid that it would take just one batch of mods to not sell out during the couple of weeks after they were done to sink the ship, so I never wanted to raise prices much.

Yeah, lots to think about...sigh ....

 

[doubledown]

Dead batteries suck when you only own three right now!

 

[Capt' Brian]

Dead batteries suck when you only own three right now!

I suppose when a pair dies, you can throw em on a charger for a half hour or so, take em off, vape a few times and put them back on charge again. Shouldn't hurt them, just kinda inconvenient. Then always fully charge them at night during sleep until the new spares arrive

 

[doubledown]

I suppose when a pair dies, you can throw em on a charger for a half hour or so, take em off, vape a few times and put them back on charge again. Shouldn't hurt them, just kinda inconvenient. Then always fully charge them at night during sleep until the new spares arrive

Ya got that right Cappy. When they go they go quick. Luckily I got the email today saying that my spare battery had shipped. Think I might order me a couple more just to be safe

I sure hope you get this figgered out Cappy. Sorry things have been going in reverse for ya. I know happy don't pay the bills, but just know you have a happy crew buddy.

 

[TheBigD]

After a brief journey on the waves of the USPS, my Cutlass II has arrived!

It is absolutely perfect. PERFECT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I threw in some batteries, checked the voltage, threw on a cartos and I am vaping my brains out. I can barely see the laptop through the fog in here.

I'll get some pics up when I can figure out why they are sideways online and correct in my viewer...

 

[Capt' Brian]

Ya got that right Cappy. When they go they go quick. Luckily I got the email today saying that my spare battery had shipped. Think I might order me a couple more just to be safe

I sure hope you get this figgered out Cappy. Sorry things have been going in reverse for ya. I know happy don't pay the bills, but just know you have a happy crew buddy.

I'll keep thinking, I'm staying afloat, but just staying afloat is a far cry from cruising in style, lol!

An interesting development just now though.. my son David who did most of the website for me just said that soon he was starting the new college semester and he would replace the band saw with some of his extra tuition money.

He also said he would like to buy some alternate vaping supplies for the website to sell for people who need PV's and stuff when I am out of stock of RSM's. Well....huh.......what the heck do I know about reselling vaping supplies....

Well, I guess he will have to do some research and find out what is popular, but I'll be damned if I will sell crap even if we have to eat hot dogs every day for dinner, yarrr!

Neat idea I must admit ..but, why didn't *I* think of it??

 

[TheBigD]

And Cappy, per your previous post about the state of making mods...

I would have paid twice what you asked for this mod. The problem is, as you are probably aware, pictures do NOT do them justice. So if someone saw these online only, they may be put off by the price point if it were $400.

Your current price is very inexpensive, considering it is cheaper (and more beautiful IMO) than a Provari and has better functionality. I was in the market for a either a Kicked Legacy or Kicked Silver Bullet, but I already have some great tube mods and between sleeves for 18650s AND a Kick, your mod was actually cheaper. AND made of wood. And GORGEOUS. Did I say that yet? Anyway, that's why I decided on yours.

I also like the idea of disparate materials, i.e. an electronic device made of wood. While the market for this type of device will always be there, as more and more people get into vaping, price point will naturally take precedence over hand-craftsmanship and quality. The trick is to keep yourself in the game while the market finds it's balance, then you'll be in the same position as Ferrari is in cars. Devices for the discriminating, status conscious vaper who wants the best and cares little about cost. I think at that time, maybe a year and a half or two years from now, you will be able to get the full value of your labor from your mods.

Until that time, I thought the suggestion to concentrate on caddies and drip tips was a good one. You could do the same thing for options on caddies as you do for mods currently (drop downs for mods to fit, tanks, batteries, various other devices, etc.) and provide your superior quality at a competitive price on something that every vaper will want at some point. I have not yet seen a serious effort within the community to provide for this market. Most are making do with office supplies.

And, in the meantime, when it suits your fancy you could open up pre-orders for a few mods, to keep the recognition going.

All easy for me to say, of course. But I am certainly in the market for a "minimalist" caddy, and will wait until YOU decide to build one.

When I get my picture nuttiness figured out I am going to post a detailed review of my new mod for my pals over at Reddit, which I hope will increase traffic to your site. Either way, a review will be out there from me.

 

[doubledown]

I'll keep thinking, I'm staying afloat, but just staying afloat is a far cry from cruising in style, lol!

An interesting development just now though.. my son David who did most of the website for me just said that soon he was starting the new college semester and he would replace the band saw with some of his extra tuition money.

He also said he would like to buy some alternate vaping supplies for the website to sell for people who need PV's and stuff when I am out of stock of RSM's. Well....huh.......what the heck do I know about reselling vaping supplies....

Well, I guess he will have to do some research and find out what is popular, but I'll be damned if I will sell crap even if we have to eat hot dogs every day for dinner, yarrr!

Neat idea I must admit ..but, why didn't *I* think of it??

Sounds like a chip off the old block. Maybe you've got too much pride in your excellent product to see the "forest for the trees", lol ( or maybe I don't know what the hell I'm talking about). Seems like your kid is seeing the website as possibly something more You can always keep final word as far as quality and QC but he may have solved your problem (and wouldn't that make the Capt' proud )

 

[Slot-Tech]

I say we all pitch in 10 to 20 bucks and get Cappy a new band saw..
It won't solve the problem but it's a start..

 

[Slot-Tech]

After a brief journey on the waves of the USPS, my Cutlass II has arrived!

It is absolutely perfect. PERFECT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I threw in some batteries, checked the voltage, threw on a cartos and I am vaping my brains out. I can barely see the laptop through the fog in here.

I'll get some pics up when I can figure out why they are sideways online and correct in my viewer...

I have the Destroyer version of the Mod...Nice combo..

 

[pchela]

Great idea Cappy! People always need batteries, atomizers, cartomizers - maybe carry tanks that will fit in the Destroyer II... chargers, drip tips, maybe some sort of rebuildable atomizer since they are becoming more and more popular? There's lots of good, quality stuff you could sell.

 

[Capt' Brian]

And Cappy, per your previous post about the state of making mods.....

......Until that time, I thought the suggestion to concentrate on caddies and drip tips was a good one. You could do the same thing for options on caddies as you do for mods currently (drop downs for mods to fit, tanks, batteries, various other devices, etc.) and provide your superior quality at a competitive price on something that every vaper will want at some point. I have not yet seen a serious effort within the community to provide for this market. Most are making do with office supplies.

Great minds and all that! I was pondering that earlier today, how I could offer such a thing. Perhaps a desk caddy split into a few different 'zones', and you could populate those zones with a few choices from a drop down menu. Doing a completely custom order desk caddy takes an hour to run on the cnc machine, just like the others, but it also takes me 2 or 3 hours to write the program, so I want to stay away from custom jobs if at all possible but still give a nice "customizable" selection, so to speak.

Great idea Cappy! People always need batteries, atomizers, cartomizers - maybe carry tanks that will fit in the Destroyer II... chargers, drip tips, maybe some sort of rebuildable atomizer since they are becoming more and more popular? There's lots of good, quality stuff you could sell.

Thats the problem though, too much good quality stuff. Where do I start? What is a great "starter kit", what is a great and affordable tube mod? Are there such things? David is going to have to do research, and I'm sure it will take many hours to narrow down the field to things we can stock that have a good chance of selling while also adding enough to the ships purse to make the time and effort worthwhile ...

nothing is ever easy is it ..... alas.

 

[Waho]

I was just getting ready to tear apart a ce2 or vivi nova head and try to cram it into an ego-c atomizer body and see if I couldn't make a diy bottomfeedable rba.

 

[Capt' Brian]

I was just getting ready to tear apart a ce2 or vivi nova head and try to cram it into an ego-c atomizer body and see if I couldn't make a diy bottomfeedable rba.

Prime example. I don't know what the heck you are talking about, I am just plain clueless .... David better be a quick learner cause I'm no help ! heh heh

 

[buckarette]

What about a wood battery caddy? Similar to a tube mod caddy, but an attractive way to organize batteries. For example, I regularly use 14500, 16340, 18350, 18490, and 18650. With the exception of the 14500s, all of these other batteries could fit in a hole made just slightly larger than the largest sized battery. This could make fabrication pretty easy for you.
Battery storage/organization is a problem for me, and I'm sure other people are in the same boat. Pun intended.
When I take extra batteries with me out of the house, they are in a case, but at home I keep them on a shelf for easy access. I have to be careful not to knock them over and check markings to make sure I'm grabbing pairs. I think there might be a market for an attractive wood organizer. You've done lots of caddies for the tube mods, so your research and development time should be minimal, and they should give you a pretty good return.
Just an idea.

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk 2

 

[pchela]

Well, I'm happy to let you know what I buy and which stuff I like based on trial and error and I'm sure other people will too.

Goodnight crew.

 

[Capt' Brian]

Well, I'm happy to let you know what I buy and which stuff I like based on trial and error and I'm sure other people will too.

Goodnight crew.

That would be awesome, experienced vapers, I can't think of better input than that! We would not be able to stock much, so what we stock needs to be above all, quality items that would keep people off stinkies. That is rule #1

Helping to keep people off cigarettes has at times, been my one and only motivation to keep doing what I do.

 

[Capt' Brian]

What about a wood battery caddy? Similar to a tube mod caddy, but an attractive way to organize batteries. For example, I regularly use 14500, 16340, 18350, 18490, and 18650. With the exception of the 14500s, all of these other batteries could fit in a hole made just slightly larger than the largest sized battery. This could make fabrication pretty easy for you.
Battery storage/organization is a problem for me, and I'm sure other people are in the same boat. Pun intended.
When I take extra batteries with me out of the house, they are in a case, but at home I keep them on a shelf for easy access. I have to be careful not to knock them over and check markings to make sure I'm grabbing pairs. I think there might be a market for an attractive wood organizer. You've done lots of caddies for the tube mods, so your research and development time should be minimal, and they should give you a pretty good return.
Just an idea.

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk 2

I did used to make something like that, I will dig through my old desk caddy designs and see what I have that can be updated to something much more useful as a storage system. Thanks for reminding me

 

[chet]

That's really sad to hear Brian.
Making exotic mods in this quality you deserve to make at least few grands a month if not more. It looks like price raise is unavoidable and I also think RSMs are bit under priced anyway. But the real problem seems to me is that you have to work too much, and increased profit won't affect your work load much. By rasing price you might make few hundred more a month, but if you still have to work 80 hours a week it isn't really solving much. So on top of price raise there need to be more effeciency somehow kicking in... I'm sure a part of your creative mind is always on that too so who am I to add much here, but maybe we can at least think together. RSM shutting down is the last thing I want to see on ECF. At least you have a much better website with more efficient ordering system and that's a very good start.

 

[Pharein]

No RSM's in vapeland! I don't even want to think of the possibility!

Truly, I hope you can come up with a solution that benefits you more, Cappy.

Vaping would be a much duller community without your craftmanship out there.