Closed-Cell Spray Foam Used to Create Dover's Monstrous Mascot

GORDONVILLE, PA–April 4, 2013–The typical spray foam contracting company sees its fair share of insulation and roofing projects come down the pike, but what if your company was tasked with making a monster? Pennsylvania-based Foam-Tech Insulation Service faced this situation when it was brought on board to assist in the construction of Miles the Monster, the giant mascot-slash-monument of Dover International Speedway.

"It's featured on national TV every time they have a race down there," said Lee Stoltzfus, Foam-Tech's owner.

The speedway commissioned the monstrous statue back in 2006 as part of an ongoing makeover initiative, although work didn't start until two years later. While Miles is well-known for being one of the largest fiberglass structures in the United States, spray foam also played a crucial role during construction.

ACI Composites engineered the structure that would function as Miles' skeleton, with the load-bearing portion being constructed from aluminum pipe. Mesh screens were anchored to the aluminum skeleton to provide a substrate onto which spray foam would be applied and then carved into Miles.

All of the construction took place at ACI's facility in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and would the spray foam application. However, SPF applications are outside ACI areas of expertise, so the company's owner, Dwight Miller, contacted Foam-Tech about the project. Stoltzfus, who had just recently started Foam-Tech at the time, was eager to get on board.

"It was one of our first big projects," said Stoltzfus. "It was very honorable."

The basic plan was to spray enough foam to the mesh substrate to allow the carving artists to shape the polyurethane mass into Miles. To reach the upper parts of the statue, Foam-Tech utilized two boom lifts. The foaming process was guided primarily by a scale model, but there were occasions where the artists would ride in the lifts with a Foam-Tech applicator to directly advise how much foam needed to be sprayed in a given area.

"We sprayed anywhere from four to six inches so that the carvers would have something to work with," said Stoltzfus. "It was done in the evening when it was nice and calm, with no cars around."

Foam-Tech applied Heatlok Soy 200, a 2 lb. closed-cell foam made by Demilec (USA), on three different occasions, spraying several sets of foam by project's end. ACI covered the finished foam with Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic.

"The original was going to be around 25 feet," said Stoltzfus. "They ended up doubling it."

At 48 feet in height, Miles the Monster was so massive that ACI had to break down the monument into five sections: the head, the arms, the chest and the waist. The sections were shipped by truck to the raceway and assembled on-site. Currently, Miles wreaks havoc on the thousands of visitors who attend each race at Dover, all while holding a full-scale NASCAR in his right hand. As for the speedway, it couldn't be more pleased with the project's outcome.

"They were just ecstatic," said Stoltzfus. "It's fun to be involved in projects like that."

About Foam-Tech Insulation Service: Foam-Tech is based in Gordonville, Pennsylvania and provides spray foam insulation to help their customers bring their energy costs down and ultimately save them money. Foam-Tech sprays insulation products manufactured by Demilec (USA). For more information about Foam-Tech, please use the contact details and links provided below.