I recall from youth seeing something that might be called an excavator with orange peel grapple moving pulpwood from the woodpile to the conveyor. When I passed by a display of construction equipment at Tractor Supply, I thought I saw something similar AND it was 1/87 scale! The similar items at HO scale supply shops seemed to be a lot more expensive, so I picked up the Tractor Supply excavator.
OK, so maybe a little too "new" but it says "Cat" and most of the others I saw were some other make.
A friend had pointed out to me that Model Tech Studios had what looked like a grapple, so I went online and ordered one. A bit of Dremel tool work to cut off the bucket and grind down the arm, a few logs glued in the grapple, and the grapple was installed!
Besides, by the time I had paid for the Tractor Supply excavator, the Model Tech grapple, and shipping for the latter, I had gone well over the price of a ready made grapple crane. BUT, I would have missed the fun of adapting the excavator AND it would not have had the CAT nameplate.
I'm satisfied.
