This evening I decided to mount 2 Tortoise motors on the layout. The holes have been pre-drilled under the throw bars, and I extended a black marker line in the bottom of the roadbed so I could line up the Tortoise ‘square’. This was all part of the ‘prep’ work done when the track was laid back in June.
I drove over to the local Walmart(after 9 PM) and picked up some 1/2" long #4 machine screws for mounting the motors, and then decide to buy some of the ‘industrial’ velcro and some contact cement while there. I ‘gooped up’ the bottom of the plywood roadbed and stuck a piece of velcro to it. I attached the matching piece to the top of the Tortoise and fished the wire up through the hole and into the throw bar. After some ‘sighting’, I pushed it home. The velcro seemed to work fine, but I drilled 4 holes and screwed the Totoise in place. The velcro made aligning the Tortoise a snap - Took about 5 minutes to install/adjust each motor. And this was back in a corner that is a ‘stretch’ to reach, and a pain to install anything under the layout in. I wanted to make sure this was ‘bullet proof’. I was very impressed with the velcro install…Now on to the 6 other Tortoise motors in the staging yard…
Jim Bernier