Uwe wrote:

Nice solid machine - great for working with - and at a decent price. Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

   I was told I needed to get a new ribbon for it, but after typing a quarter of a page and tightening the spool up I came to the parts of the ribbon that have not been exposed to the air to dry for a long time, and It is fully working.  

Also, after typing a page on a old fashioned manual typewriter, I now know why Hemingway was a manley man. I was (nicely) shocked on how much effort it takes to slam those keys down to get a good imprint on the paper.  It has a completely alternate feel then writing with a computer or even a IBM Electric typewriter.  The most important thing is that it was a lot of fun and I suspect that I will be noodling a lot on this one to put ideas on paper. 

Valiant wrote:

Have you tried adjusting the touch control at the left (L M H) ? You may find that you don't need to exert as much effort as you think. The touch control on a machine like that Classic 12 may be fairly responsive, unlike some other machines where the adjustment is subtle or unnoticeable...

Will try that out over the weekend.  

I have one of these, in gold. The typing action is quick and light with a cool "snap" feeling.

My most recent acquisition was a wedding present from my father (does a present still count as an acquisition, or do you have to actively acquire ie. buy it?), an Arabic Olivetti he brought from Kuwait.  One key missing but should still be useful, I mainly use my typewriters for making artwork so a nice cursive script should be nice for a change.  Just the spool nuts were missing (I think that's what they're called), but since retiring my stepfather has been fixing old clocks and loves machining small components on his watch maker's lathe, so I've given him the job of fashioning two new ones...

Congratulations on your.new Baby! Looks great, how is it working? I also have a new Baby, found at a local flea market a few weeks back. It is a later model, in green with green keys. Problem with it is the right hand carriage release lever is missing, which can make typing a little bit cumbersome, but otherwise works great. It needs some cleaning; I will post photos once completed.