Review: Bachmann 31-427B Class 411 4-CEP 4 Car EMU No. 7106 BR Blue/Grey Livery

Review of Bachmann's 31-427B Class 411 4-CEP 4 Car EMU No. 7106 BR Blue/Grey Livery. The review is also applicable to other Class 411 models in Bachmann's range, specifically:

31-426B Class 411 4-CEP 4-Car EMU 7122 BR (SR) Green (Small Yellow Panels)
31-426C Class 411 4-CEP 4-Car EMU 7122 BR (SR) Green (Small Yellow Panels) [Weathered]
31-427B Class 411 4-CEP 4-Car EMU 7106 BR Blue & Grey (review model)
31-427C Class 411 4-CEP 4-Car EMU 7106 BR Blue & Grey [Weathered]

Sections:
00:00 - Introduction
00:56 - Unboxing
10.14 - Close-up
12:23 - Running Session
16:12 - Summary
18:10 - Scoring
21:41 - Recommendation

Link to full running session:    • Bachmann 31-427B Class 411 4-CEP 4 Ca...  

Connecting the cars together:
I didn't mention it in the video but the way I connected up the 4 cars with the drawbars as follows:
1. I first removed the couplers from both end cars as I didn't intend to use them.
2. Invert the 2nd car on a soft surface and add the drawbars to both sides
3. Invert the 1st car and connect it to the 2nd
4. Flip the two cars over and add them to a straight section of track - be careful not to stress the coupling assemblies when doing this. You'll be holding one car in each hand so this should be easy to manage.
5. Invert the 4th car and add the drawbar to it.
6. Invert and connect in the 3rd car and repeat step 4 for these two cars
7. You should now have the two pairs of cars on the same piece of straight track with the drawbar on car 2 facing the empty socket on car 3.
8. Bring the two pairs of cars together and line up the drawbar and the socket
9. I used two pairs of long neck pliers to connect car 2 to car 3, one to hold the connector on car 3 and the other to hold the drawbar from car 2 and push it home.
10. Put some plastic on top of the track that is under the pliers to avoid causing shorts or alternatively do the procedure with the power turned off.
10. I also use the two pairs of pliers to pull adjacent cars apart - handy if you need to remove the power car to program it for DCC for example.

I use the above procedure with all my Bachmann DMUs now.