Wiring connectors

The grand plan for my layout involves two 3'x6' layout sections in front (Phase 1), two end curves (Phase 2), and the back two sections (Phase 3) which will ultimately form a loop. There will be six layout joints, and wires will need to pass and connect between them. Already I have had to disconnect and separate the first two sections as I work on scenery so that I don't accidently glue them together while applying scenery. It is only a couple of wires, but it is annoying. 

I wanted to plan ahead so I purchased some trailer hitch plugs online at $11 each. They were expensive but looked like what I needed and had 12" wires soldered to each side. Unfortunately, once pushed together they were nearly impossible to separate. No matter what I did, it took a screwdriver to wedge them apart. That wouldn't work. Worse, the company only offered credits instead of refunds so I am stuck with a credit I will likely never use.

After looking around some more, I finally settled on NAOEVO 6-pin connectors that I found on Amazon. They use 16g wire in multiple colors, are easy to connect and disconnect, and were priced right at under $3 a pair. The only downside, which I realized after receiving them, was that the wires were a scant 4" long. This wasn't long enough to pass down and under the edges of my benchwork and connect, and I certainly didn't want to drill holes in the ends of the benchwork large enough to pass the wires through (I don't mind them dangling down for now). Something had to be done. 

Note: I looked online again for a better option but I could find nothing that had 12" wires attached. So, I was back to fixing what I had. This involved soldering 6" wire extensions to each of the six wires on both sides of the plug. Then, I applied heatshrink tubing (which thoughtfully came with the plugs) over each joint. After that, spade connectors were crimped on the ends. 

I found that I could do one in about 20 minutes, and once the first was finished and checked to make sure it would fit underneath my layout I took a break.

In the picture below, the NAOEVO connector is on the bottom and the original Del City connector on the bottom.

Once wired up to the underside of the layout, they didn't hang down too much.

I can live with that... at least until I find a better solution.