Technical Lighted swan question

I bought a really nice vintage light ed swan hood ornament from a fellow Hamber. I can't figure out how to get a light in it.

 

Got a picture of it? That may get you some answers.

 

You need to fabricate a bulb socket/holder that rests up against the bottom of the clear piece, inside and under. You want to seal it all up with a hemispherical 'hood' so the light only shines through the clear plastic and doesn't splash around anywhere else. Even though the bulb is off to the bottom, the plastic casting will illuminate evenly.
This all assumes that the pot metal portion has an opening for the light to shine up. It may have originally come with the illumination kit but it's common for those pieces to be long gone so you have to Macgyver new stuff.

Edit To Add: With the miniature, compact LEDs available today it should be easier than the old days.

 

Get yourself an LED of the colour you want (or a white one if your emblem is coloured plastic.) Light it up using a 680 ohm resistor in series with one of the legs, and run it off a 12 volt source. You can hold it to the bottom of the plastic, and in a dark room, you can see how it lights up. You may need to use several LED's to even out the light, or sand the LED surface with some 1200 to diffuse the light a bit. Once you have worked out what you want, you can drill a blind hole just a few millimetres short of the LED size, and epoxy them in there.

 

Thanks for the info. I knew you would help me figure it out! It's a yellow winged one, and is going on the hood of my 1937 ford coupe

 

When did they become lighted? Dad had a 49 packard with one on the hood. I think it was a lit one can't remember I was very young. Lippy

 

On a 37 Ford?

......................................

 

If it's one like this......
https://trux-mart.myshopify.com/pro...bugler-windrider-green-wings-chrome-7-5-48098
.......they are still made new. The listing doesn't show the bottom side but these came with the light. It's a 3-watt, 12V bulb which is all you need. You want it to glow....... not light your path or pinch your pupils down to pinholes at night.

 

How does this work on a 37 when the hood latch needs to be rotated 45 degrees to open ? What am i missing? The one that @The Shift Wizard shows i deem to be very tacky, in saying that i could see them on a mack truck.

 

And just what is wrong with a Mack truck? Or any truck?

Ben

 

I should keep my opinion to myself, but not if you held a gun to my head. I feel the same when I see a Lalique crystal ornament lit up on a high zoot classic like a Packard or Cadillac 16. But to each their own, said Mrs O'Leary when she kissed the cow.