Fold-Together Cardboard Tower Bridge, With Working Drawbridge

Here I made a small cardboard model of the Tower Bridge in London, and the newest version now has a working drawbridge (not shown in pictures). It’s made from three pieces that fold and glue together to make the full bridge. It’s simple to build, but still looks really cool. This project is a fun way to practice cutting, folding, and putting together a 3D structure.

You will need cardboard, glue, tape (optional), and a cutting tool. You might also want the vector file of the cutout. I used a Laser for cutting, but you could use an knife or scissors.

First I went online and searched up the Tower Bridge. When I found some pictures of it that showed all of the sides I needed, I printed them.

Then, using the pictures I printed out, I sketched out what I thought would be a good, fold-able design.

Using the sketch I made as a base, I modeled the fold-able design in Autodesk Fusion 360. This allowed me to use the sheet metal function to see if the folds I made would work. Once I finished, I exported a sketch in DXF format. I will use this file in the next step.

Then I brought the DXF into Affinity Designer and started polishing the design off. I made it so that the black lines are what to cut, the red lines are to score and bend, and the blue lines are just for looks. Once I finished the vector work, I exported an SVG to be used in the next step.

*The .SVG is attached to this step.

I imported the .SVG into XTool Studio (laser software). For some reason, XTool studio doesn't like the way Affinity exports. So I had to scale the .SVG down to 254mm wide (10in). Then I set the black lines to cut, the red to a heavy score, and the blue lines to the recommended power of score. Then I went and found some 1.5-3mm thick cardboard, I had to make sure it was relatively flat. I set the cardboard in the laser, framed it, and got it cutting. Once it finished, I took it out and brought it to a place where I could assemble it.

If you don't have a laser, in theory, you could print out the vector and trace it onto the cardboard. Then cut it out with a scissors/knife.

1. Bend the cardboard on the correct score lines to make sure they are working
2. Now start the gluing process in the order of the pictures shown above
3. For pics 3-5, repeat the process on the other side

Sometimes tape may be needed in a place where its hard to glue.

Its finished!