Fire engine shadow box SVG
A fire engine with its ladder on the roof, parked in the street in front of a row of houses and a general store, with the towers of the city behind, and a hydrant, the station dog and a street lamp on the pavement. 5 sheets of card, cut and stacked with a gap between each, make the picture. The files are free, and every part of the scene can be moved, swapped or resized below before you download.
5 sheets at 8 × 8 in, zipped, with a note on putting them together.
Free for personal and commercial use, no sign-up. What you can do with it.
The 5 sheets
Sheet 1 is the back and sheet 5 is the front. Each one is a single piece with the same frame round its edge, so they line up when stacked. The colours shown are the “Autumn” set; cut them in any card you like. Cut sheet 5, “Hydrant and lamp”, the slowest: at 1.1 mm it has the thinnest part in the scene, and sheet 5, “Hydrant and lamp”, fills the most of the view, 31% of it.
| Sheet | What is on it | Narrowest part | Seen from the front |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Sun | A whole sheet with holes for: Plain disc | over 2 mm | 33% |
| 2. City | Flat ground, with: City skyline with windows and Office building for a skyline | 1.3 mm | 6% |
| 3. Street | Flat ground, with: Village row of five houses and General store with a porch | 1.4 mm | 12% |
| 4. Fire engine | Flat ground, with: Firefighter fire engine | over 2 mm | 17% |
| 5. Hydrant and lamp | Flat ground, with: Firefighter hydrant, Sitting dog silhouette and Lantern on a lamp post | 1.1 mm | 31% |
Measured from the files at 8 × 8 in. The narrowest part is the thinnest neck of card that holds anything on; sharp tips are not counted. “Seen from the front” is the share of the picture that sheet fills once the sheets in front of it are in place.
Will it cut at your size?
The download is 8 × 8 in. The scene maker above makes the same scene at any of these sizes; the thinnest part scales with it.
| Frame opening | Each sheet | Narrowest part | Depth needed | Fits a 12 × 12 in mat | Rule of thumb |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 × 6 in | 152.4 × 152.4 mm | 0.8 mm | 17 mm | Yes | Fine detail: sharp blade, slow speed |
| 20 × 20 cm | 200 × 200 mm | 1.1 mm | 17 mm | Yes | Cuts easily |
| 8 × 8 in | 203.2 × 203.2 mm | 1.1 mm | 17 mm | Yes | Cuts easily |
| 23 × 23 cm | 230 × 230 mm | 1.2 mm | 17 mm | Yes | Cuts easily |
| 25 × 25 cm | 250 × 250 mm | 1.4 mm | 17 mm | Yes | Cuts easily |
Depth needed allows 3 mm of foam between sheets and 5 mm for the card itself and the backing.
Making this one
Made as a gift for a firefighter, or for a child who loves fire engines. Cut the engine in red card and it needs no other colour. It is a sturdy shape, over 2 mm everywhere at 8 inches. The hydrant, the dog and the street lamp on the front sheet are the finest parts, at about 1.1 mm, and the windows of the far towers come next. Nothing hangs on a thread.
- Cut all 5 sheets from 160 to 220 gsm card at the same size.
- Lay them out in order, sheet 1 at the back.
- Put strips of 3 mm foam tape round the border of sheet 1 and press sheet 2 onto it with the edges level. Carry on to sheet 5.
- Fit the stack into a deep frame with the front sheet against the glass. For a light box, run a strip of warm white LEDs round the inside of the frame behind the stack.
The zip includes these steps as a text file, each sheet as its own SVG and all 5 side by side in one SVG. More on paper, frames and lights is on the shadow box page.
The parts, on their own
Everything in the scene comes from the free SVG library, where each has its own page and file:
Questions
Can I add a name, a station or an engine number?
Not inside the maker yet. Cut it from the lettering in the library and glue it to the bottom border, or write it on the side of the engine by hand.
Is the fire engine a real model?
No. It is an invented engine, drawn for cutting, with no badge or livery of any brigade, so it can stand for any station.
Can I sell boxes I make with it?
Yes. Finished pieces are yours to sell. The files themselves may not be sold or shared; send people to this page. See the licence.
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