I got one a while back.. it

I got one a while back.. it fit just fine. I did weather a little and made it better imo. Here are a cpl of old pics..not the best, but you get the idea..

I would like to build a

I would like to build a scrapyard with a crane too, but would need a crane that is suited for the 1970's.

Cranes

@Tony, those look great... yeah I'll weather them as well. Had a heck of a time finding anything as I had said earlier.

@Jim - not sure what would be appropriate for the 70's but I'd imagine a tracked crane with a standard boom and a magnet would be what you need. There's a few "standard cranes" with a hook and then just buy the Walther's overhead traveling crane, it comes with the magnet head that you would need.

Walthers

makes a lattice boom crane, it comes with a drag line, but it wouldn't take much to scratch build a magnet.

i made my own

Hey there, i made my own using an old Baltimore &Ohio Rail road crane,  had a busted bulldozer and kit bashed it to the crane after taking off the trucks and cutting the remainder of the flat car  

railroad cranes

have a browse around http://modeltechstudios.com/, they have a plethora of cranes etc for all kinds of locations and industries. a quick search of their site using "magnet" will produce one of several options but they do many more cranes than these options

Scrap dealers cranes

ref era

Mark is correct on era making a difference. I do have some smaller cranes that I will eventually add the a magnet to.  If it matters a great deal.. I would suggest finding pictures of scrap yards in the era desired. As to mine, I model the 90's (ish) and that crane was close enough for me  

@Robin.. Nice kit bash.. I like it !

The crane in Klempter Salvage yard on the Richlawn RR

Also remember

Hi all,

Also remember cranes on scrap yard duty could have been bumped from more prestigious roles as they aged. In the 1970's/early 1980's newer cranes with extendable hydraulic jibs bumped quite capable fixed jib cranes into "secondary hire" locations like scrapyards,

In the local steelworks we had a fixed jib crawler crane working the export ingot stacks on hire from a local crane firm. It was probably 20 years old when it began its hire onsite. It had been bumped to "secondary hire" after the crane company bought bigger, more capable cranes that got the glamour jobs. It lasted until one of the hardened steel dogs that was used to grip the ingot failed under load. 30 tons of ingot came down from a great height with a THUMP and laid the jib out behind the crane after bad case of whiplash. The ingot survived, unfortunately the crane didn't. We had a to hire a "newer crane" at considerably more $'s for the job.  

KIBRI

Kibri is a German company which made magnificient Ho scale models of cranes of different area.

Most are from European modles, but can be easily kitbashed to be US looking prototype..

Kibri models are distributed by Walthers

But you can find them on EBay, Reynauld even Amazon

So many variables

I have had the chance to work around a lot of scrap yards on the east. I can say this, the equipment that handles material in these yards is extremely diverse. 

I have seen rail cranes, gantry cranes, older crawler cranes with lattice booms and mags. Modern European hydraulic equipment mounted to solid bases. Tons and tons and tons of hydraulic excavators with various heads. I did a derailment once outside of a scrap yard that used the skeleton of an old factory and the overhead crane was still intact and used. Portion of the roof remained on the building but all the walls were scrapped. 

Scrap facilities are great for modelers, simply because anything goes. Build something to fit your space and used a crane that is period correct and I am sure there is a prototype that would be a close comparison.