Oh, there is nothing wrong with the cannibalization of a machine.  In fact, most typewriter repairmen have done so more often than not--unless they had a new part available in a little baggie or box or something.  I've done that too.  I know that Rheinmetalls are probably exceedingly rare (I haven't seen one in these hy'ar parts of Texas), but if you find an old junker that's totally beyond repair, there would be no better use of it than to take the part you need out of it so the good one can continue giving good service.

Hmmmm,  Ah yes, this is one thing Remington is absolutely NOTORIOUS for--a sticking shift mechanism.  How is the cap/lowercase alignment?  If it is all right, I would bet that mainly the shifting mechanism would most likely be somewhat stiff from long time nonuse.  The best thing to do here is to clean around in the shifting some more and lightly oil the joints where it moves with a little transmission fluid, exercise the shifting, and do this again in a few hours, or when you want to get back to it again.  It needs time for the oil to soak into the metal (This has always worked for me--if it doesn't free up at once, it usually takes a little bit of time, and then things roll smoothly).  But if you still having trouble,  The shift toggle lever spring will need to be retensioned.  Pull this out of the shift toggle lever and the upper dowel holding it, pull up the next layer of spring, and chop off the top  with a strong pair of wire cutters.  Then fashion the new top to where it will hook into either the toggle lever (the mechanism on the bottom that ends in a little "paddle" looking part that goes from one padded stop to the other) or the top dowel.  This should do it.  You don't want this too tight, otherwise the shifting will be very difficult and uncomfortable to use.  Doing anything to the spring should be a last resort, as proper cleaning and oiling and exercising of this joint will almost always solve the problem--at least from my own personal experience--and I've run into this problem A LOT.

Sounds like you've got this down to a science!   Or, at least you're on your way to getting it down to a science.  But, for my purposes, I have never seen the need, say, to tilt a typewriter slightly backward so as to compensate for a steep angle (which, incidentally, occurs more on manuals than on electrics), or to find the right thickness for a wide board or piece of plywood to sit in one's lap to set a typewriter on.  I can see, the need to raise or lower a chair as to set the most comfortable height.  Right now, with my left arm hurting the way it is, I have to have a typewriter setting slightly lower than it used to because it hurts my arm to raise it too high.  Call it age, call it what you will, but this here cowpoke is feelin' the cold a-comin' down from them thar hills, and it bites pretty hard.

KatLondon wrote:

OhI wasn't having a dig at you for forgetting - I thought I was agreeing! It was a nice thread, the Populaire one, and I think I do remember you saying about the subtitles. A shame. The film is only a few years old. 

But if you have a DVD of it, can I just ask a question? A French DVD would be Region 2 - so it wouldn't work in the US. The only one that would even work in the US would be a Region 1 (or a universal one) - therefore, by definition, it must be accessible to English-language speakers. Are you sure there isn't some subtitles feature in the menu that you've missed? Often they aren't automatic, you have to actively choose them (eg if you have a choice of languages etc)...

Oh, I almost forgot.  I don't have a DVD of this movie myself, but I Googled it and found it on Youtube--without subtitles.  I watched it in spurts.  The typewriters fascinated me--especially the pink Japy the heroine of the story was using, and the dolled-up Underwood 150 her finalist competitor was using. 
 

Uwe wrote:

Kat, you're absolutley right about the DVD classifications and it's very safe to assume that if you bought a copy of the film in North America that it would have subtitles. On the other hand, DVDs are an almost dead medium. More and more people are streaming films instead of buying a hard copy of them, and that's when the issue of subtitles can become more complex. I watched Populaire on Netflix Canada, which meant by default it had English subtitles, but I could have streamed it from other online sources and that would have not been a guarantee. 

On a side note, I have hacked a couple of DVD players so that they will play DVDs from any region, but anyone who goes through the trouble of doing this will fully appreciate your point concerning regional content and be fully aware of such pitfalls.

Well now.  There was something you and KatLondon educated me on--Regions.  I was of the mind that any DVD would work on any player.  I didn't know.  It does make sense though.  But, as I said, you can find anything in a flea market--including DVDs from other reagions, which probably wouldn't play in a Region 1 player.  Thanks for the updates!