On my tentative "Dear Santa" wish list is a rotary crane. I think they look fabulous and can see just the setting on my layout and have also always loved anything craney.

However when you see them in action on the likes of You Tube they seem very jerky and toy like. The latest version 76515 seems to be more so than the very old original 7051.

Is this because the film maker is not a competent crane operator?

Don't get me wrong I am not obsessive to prototype detail and realise that this is by its nature something of a novelty item which suits me fine.

Now I know from photos on here a number of you have these items on their existing layouts so are my worries of any foundation?

I have one of the older ones [ 7051 ] which has never been used, apart from testing. I don't see why you cant slew and raise the older one at the same time. Also, if you couple it up to its own transformer, you should be able to adjust the power to it and give a more realistic slower motion.
Dereck

Digital can get bloody expensive eh.

The rotary crane 7051 will indeed slew and raise/lower simultaneously. Each function has it's own motor.
A friend of mine has two cranes mounted on a base , each controlled by a Mame type joystick on his Marklin display layout.
Both functions can be controlled at the same time. .
Children line up to use them and get a great kick out of it.
I have the same setup. Beats push buttons any day. I have controlled the Heljan container crane the same way.
The jerkiness you refer to may just be the U Tube playback as the crane movement is very smooth.
As Derek suggests, a good idea is use and old Marklin blue controller, variable power outlet supplied to the motors and full power outlet to the magnet or grabber.

Howard.