So I finally pulled the trigger on a Thorens TD115 and had it shipped from Dunedin to Wellington to my son (I'm in Sydney but he will bring it over soon). Unfortunately, while the turntable arrived OK the dustcover did not. It has been split in transit and I am pursuing the courier company for compensation.

If anyone knows of one that might be available, please let me know.

I wouldn't normally chance my arm on something like a turntable but the guy assured me he would pack it well and he'd never had any problems before. I won't fall for that one again.

Cheers
LMA

You could always get one made up.
I use Cambrian Plastics in Henderson, who would charge about $150 for a 4.5mm cover the size of the TD115.

I'm sure there are plenty of plastic fabricators in Sydney.

From stereonet
"I went looking for reasonably priced TT dust covers for my RP10. My preference was to find something made in Australia, rather than buy an overseas big name brand. Here are a few names/details I thought worth sharing -

1. Judith (0431 221 405) - runs a Melbourne based family business that can produce 'made to order' TT covers. Judith's advise is to stick to the more durable polycarbonate than acrylic and go for anything that is 4.5 mm or thicker..

2. Paulos (0450 522 238) - a Melbourne based audiophile who builds his own phonostages and TT covers, for fun. Paulos had a few in stock. so I landed up pick one for my RP10, yesterday evening ($200).

3. Darren Solo (darren@displays2go.com.au) - is a Sydney based business, that produces acrylic artifacts. I loved the prices he quoted, ($147 + GST) but with p&h to Melbourne ($70), it worked out a tad bit dearer than Paulos.

4. directdriverecordplayer - runs an eBay business from NSW, that produces some amazing TT dust covers at a good price ($200 including postage to Melbourne). "

Thanks, C! Maybe I can find one that will replicate my one if I take my old one to them to use as a template... that would be awesome!

Yep, I also use Cambrian Plastics.
They will make one to your supplied dimensions or duplicate the old one.
I'm sure other plastics companies could do the same.
Cheers.

Thanks, Graham. It would be nice to have a new shiny clear perspex cover. I've found APF (Australian plastic fabricators) is supposed to be good and not far away so I will get the tt over here and go and see them. Once I do I will post pics and share my thoughts about this tt over my ProJect Debut III.

OK - it's been a while since the last past but i was grieving over the loss of what I thought would be my next turntable. The courier (fastway) was a nightmare and the trademe seller wasn't much bothered because he had my money. It took over six months to resolve, with me having to sweet talk and cajole both parties to perform each step (collect the turntable, evaluate the damage, determine who was at fault, determine whether to refund me for damage or provide full refund to the vendor, pay refund to the vendor, get vendor to refund me). Lesson learned. Never, ever trust the seller that they will pack the item well or you will end up with a sorry story like this one.

So, after coming out the other side of the whole debacle, I have had to wait many more months to find my next turntable. I have bought a second hand MMF 7 turntable for a good price, which I collected myself less than an hour's drive from where I live. It is a definite improvement over my ProJect Debut III and I am very happy. I am sorry I could not find another Thorens TD115 or 125 instead but thems the breaks!

This turntable is a real sleeper. There are, of course, some improvements I will be making down the track. I have the ProJect 9c tonearm and I reckon a 9cc (carbon) will be an improvement. However, at the moment, I am very happy that my records are finally sounding as good as CDs, but for the odd crackle and pop. The cartridge, a Goldring 2200, appears to be more susceptible to them than my old OM10...

Wow, so did they manage to wreck the TD115 in transit?
Originally it was just the dust cover that was cracked.
Some people have no idea how to pack things and unfortunately couriers are not always gentle.
I sometimes think if you label a package as fragile it purposely then gets dropped from a great height !!

My experiences with so called Fastways is such that I would never use them. Their drivers’ lack knowledge of NZ place names. I live in Mangonui, and almost without fail the parcel travels via Mount Maunganui. My last parcel was mis-directed to Whanganui! I recommend Courier Post, but I guess all courier services can fail to deliver on service from time to time.

We've used Fastways exclusively at work for over 20 years and the number of problems we've had has been very small. We sell and ship quite a few parts all round the country but I do have a couple of simple rules that I always follow. One, always, always over pack. Bubble wrap, double box etc. I recycle all the packaging that comes into my parts store and in 11 years never had to purchase extras. Two, always double check the address the client supplies. I check the supplied delivery address with Google maps and quite often find that the details supplied by the purchaser are lacking. In many cases I add in missing districts and area codes.
The few cockups we've had with Fastways have almost all been down to incorrect details from the other party.
Courier Post used to be a bit quicker but from my own experience their delivery times have been getting longer plus for us they are much more expensive than Fastways.

I sold a Michell Focus TT on TM some years ago with original boxing and shipped it to Nelson ok. I did however strip much of it down, wrap all the parts in bubble wrap and then a layer of rubber backed carpet under lay before double boxing . I've also sold and shipped 30 plus very delicate hand built model cars around the country without any problems. Again it comes down to the seller being willing to go the extra mile to ensure the goods arrive safely.
I get several deliveries each day from all the various courier companies and despite the many complaints laid against them I'm continually surprised how 99% of the goods sent from my suppliers reaches me in good condition despite the haphazard approach to packing some of them seem to employ. ie delicate items like headlight bulbs in flimsy card boxes stuffed into a track pack.

HI Graham and co - it was just the dustcover that was split but Fastway collected it for assessment and I told them how much it would cost to replace the dustcover ($200). At that point they must have been in discussions with the seller and the driver about responsibility for the damage. AFter that, there must have been a negotiation between the driver and Fastway because I heard the driver decided to keep it and Fastway refunded the seller the auction prices ($325) instead. I would have preferred to keep it even if I was only partly refunded for a replacement lid but that wasn't an option.

Cooks, your advice about packing and ensuring as a buyer that the seller follows said practices is salient.