Scrap Metal (Fallout 3)

Scrap metal is a miscellaneous item in Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas.

Related quests

 * The Outcast Collection Agent: scrap metal, along with various other items, that can be turned in to Protector Casdin at Fort Independence for ammunition, grenades, and useful aid items.
 * This Old House: scrap metal can be given to Winthrop at Underworld in exchange for Rad-X, RadAway or stimpaks.
 * Walter's Scrap Metal: scrap metal can be turned in to Walter at Megaton for caps and experience or positive Karma if the player decides to give the scrap metal for free.

Locations
Scrap metal can be found throughout the Capital Wasteland.
 * 20 on shelves in the bunk area of Meresti Metro station.
 * 11 spread throughout RobCo facility's factory floor.
 * 8 in the robot repair center
 * Tinker Joe can have up to 8 pieces for one bottle cap apiece. He can be found outside in the parking lot of the RobCo facility at certain times of the day.
 * Often found in toolboxes.
 * Robots will have a piece of scrap metal in their inventory upon death.
 * Often sold in small amounts by scavengers and traders who deal in miscellaneous goods.

Fallout: New Vegas
Much like in Fallout 3, scrap metal in Fallout: New Vegas can be turned in to various robots for unmarked quests. It is also a useful alternative to a higher Repair skill when trying to repair certain objects. It is a necessary component in the crafting of the Weapon repair kit. Its most lucrative use, however, is that it can be broken down into 200 units of lead, which is used in the crafting of ammunition at a reloading bench. These things are not mutually exclusive, however, as lead is the easiest component of ammunition to get; the primer, powder, and casings are all much less commonplace.

Related quests

 * ED-E My Love: ED-E can be repaired using three pieces of scrap metal and several other objects if the player lacks the requisite Repair and/or Science skill to do so without parts.
 * Iron and Stealing: One option to gain fame with the Boomers, and thus complete the quest Volare!, is to give Jack scrap metal. 50 pieces will give the player instant "Idolized" status. This unmarked quest stays active even after the bomber is raised.
 * Dealing with Contreras: Isaac can be given scrap metal to make ammunition for Contreras. 100 pieces are necessary. However, he will also accept the much more numerous and far less valuable bent tin cans instead.
 * Not Worth a Hill of Corn and Beans: Five pieces of scrap metal, along with many other supplies, are needed to repair William Farber's food processor in Camp McCarran if you lack the Repair skill to jury rig it.

Locations
Scrap metal can be found throughout the Mojave Wasteland.


 * 28 pieces can be located in the REPCONN test site's basement
 * 16 pieces can be found inside Cerulean Robotics in Freeside
 * 13 can be found in or a wrecked building in The Divide just outside the entrance to the Ashton Silo Control Station
 * 12 can be found in the wreckage of Dry Wells
 * 10 are located on or around the shelves near the flagpole inside the walls of Camp McCarran
 * Old Lady Gibson located in Gibson scrap yard has a large stock of scrap metal, ranging from 3 to 7 at a time. Her inventory restocks every 72 in-game hours.
 * The player can find plenty of Scrap Metal throughout Big MT. A lot can be found on enemies, found in containers, and sometimes given to you by non-player characters.

Crafting
With the addition of the Honest Hearts add-on, players are given two options to craft scrap metal from commonly available items. Both recipes are available immediately upon installation of the add-on and can be accessed from any Workbench so long as the player has a Repair skill of 25 or above.

Curiously, the "Meals-to-Metal" recipe calls for the non-metallic variant of the butter knife, rather than the admittedly less common metal version.

Behind the scenes
Scrap metal was originally called "spare parts" and was designed to function just like alien epoxy (which was added to Fallout 3 with the Mothership Zeta add-on), but this idea was dropped during pre-production. Evidence of this still remains in the item's internal EditorID: "SpareParts".

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