Well, who could ask for a better answer!  Thank you very much indeed.

I do like the look of this machine, but these (IMO) shortfalls are making me think twice.  Although typewriters are congregating at this address, I think of myself as a user rather than as a collector, and the use of the machine is paramount with me,  So still undecided.

Well, admittedly I have a weak spot for the FP, and have promised to stop buying them once I find a FPS model. I appreciate that certain features are important for someone who regularly uses their machines. Few standards, at least those from American manufacturers had paper rests. They seem to be a more popular addition on German models, and you may have been spoiled by your SG in that regard. Come to think of it, everything on your shopping list is found on a SG. Another model that has all of those items is the Triumph Matura, which was manufactured at the same time as the FP:

DUAL paper rests


Hole in the alignment scale


Half-space function


And half line spaces


And I think it's a dead sexy machine to boot

Oh why did I do it!  Just went to eBay Germany for a Triumph Matura hunt; always a bad idea.  Nothing that caught my interest (thank heaven) but did see someone asking 132 Euros for the instruction leaflet alone!  Should put that on Best Laughs on EBay thread!

I have owned and reconditioned a number of Royal FP typewriters, and I can tell you they are really decent machines.  They're built like tanks, and will probably even outlast your grandkids.  They are very much like the preceding HH models which had this same virtue.  Although these poor luddite machines weren't loaded down with whistles, bells, gewgaws, extra characters and all the other niceties that most of the newer and foreign machines have, they were built to last, and most are still doing the same thing they were built to do:  pile a stack of letters and numbers from right to left, top to bottom.  In my opinion, both the HH and the FP are superior machines with good touch and splendid performance.