Black Panther Helmet Lighting Effect

[GothamsKnight55]

So I ran across this amazing Black Panther/Golden Jaguar build from Vibranium Cosplay:

I'm having a lot of trouble replicating the lighting effect. Based on his Instagram, he 3d printed the helmet in transparent filament. I've been able to do the same, so far so good.

But I can't figure out how he still gets the light to shine through the helmet once painted. For me just applying primer blocks out the light completely. Any ideas as to what kind of paint would allow light to travel through like that, but appear opaque otherwise? (I tried reaching out to Vibranium Cosplay, but no response so far).

 

[enterprise0216]

Very cool! I keep trying to contact Vibranium Cosplay maybe super busy.

 

[Henry Creations]

Hey man, I did a similar thing with my Stormbreaker. There is a combination of factors for the LED lights to be diffused properly with the most amount of sheen. A mix of thickness of the object and translucency. In this case, the helmet is thin (you can see the LED dots) and then instead of using primer, you have to not use primer, or mask the areas where you will have the light shine through. You can start sanding those spots really well, then mask and go ahead with the primer.