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After 17 years as a social studies teacher at a small, rural Junior High School in central Texas, I retired at the end of the 2016 school year. I started that career at age 45. Prior to that, I was a professional painter and prior to that, a sheet-metal mechanic/tinsmith. I am married, and my wife Jackie and I have two children, Ann, 42, a financial advisor and Carson, 40, a Mechanical Engineer.
Our kids have now provided us with two grandsons, Ann and her husband Robert had a baby boy on August 11 2014, John Carlos ("Johnny") Huerta and Carson's wife Amanda delivered their baby boy, Sullivan ("Sul" or "Sully") on the following December 18. Needless to say, they are both beautiful babies and yes, the grandparents are somewhat STOKED, lol!
I am glad to add an update. My first grand-daughter, Nora Wade Brantley, was born Nov. 8, 2016. Of course, she is beautiful (looks a lot like her brother Sullivan). Just one more blessing in my life!
And yet another update- our second granddaughter, Chloe Marie Huerta, was born on Pearl Harbor Day, December 7, 20017 and now is 4 years old and counting...
My other hobbies include shooting and collecting firearms, music, reading and hot-rod cars and motorcycles. I also assist (read: doing the heavy lifting, lol) with my wife's antique business. We bought a brand new 47 HP 4WD Kubota L4701 tractor in Sept. '16 to use on our ranch in the country, "Brokenoak". I've been busy and having a lot of fun as a Country Squire out there. Yes, life can get rather hectic for ol' Squire Brantley! đ
When I was 13-14 years old, my family and I lived in Geelong, Victoria, Australia, where my Dad worked for ALCOA ( in Geelong 1966-67). My passion then was slot car racing! I had two commercial tracks within 100 meters/yards of our house. Oh man, did I have fun over there! Hey wait, that was over 50 years ago?!?! Wow, where did the time go? đ
Built back around 1989, (ex-Hawk kit, first produced in 1960 I believe) my Testors version was issued in 1982. The aircraft is the well-known rocket-powered interceptor, the Me163 Komet, in 1/48 scale. This kit had only about 25 [...]
My father-in-law, Jack Terhune of Springfield, Missouri, was a U.S. Air Force veteran. He joined in March of 1950, after turning down several scholarships to play college football. He always said he joined to see the world and never got [...]
My dad, John H. "Johnny" Brantley was one of 13 children born to a cotton-picking, share-cropping couple in Milam county Texas. Born in 1923, he was the fourth son and fourth oldest. My grandparents lived in poverty that is [...]
This is another older build, circa early-mid 1990s. It had never had a photograph made until the late February session with my Me-262 at the Cameron airport. It's painted with Humbrol and Model Master enamels and built basically out of [...]
The Me-262 is, hand's down, my all-time favorite aircraft. I really love them! In fact, when the "Stormbird Project" was building its replicas, I got in touch with them about volunteering.
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Unfortunately, the commute from [...]
Started more than three years ago, I resumed work on this old Hobbycraft kit a month or so ago. I finished her Saturday, and made my way out to the airport today for a photo session. I messed up the stretched sprue radio aerial loading [...]
This is my first finished build of the new year :); completed on Sunday, Jan.1, it was started in mid-July 2013! At some point, it was relegated to a safe spot and more or less abandoned. I would dust her off from time to time, always [...]
Well, this is a first on two counts. It's the very first pics taken of this ancient model, and it's the first set of pics I've posted that weren't taken at an airport! Bob Mack said he'd like to see the pics of my Monogram Hellcat, so I [...]
Last winter, I dug my one and only World War One build out of the cabinet, and thought, what the heck, take some pics of the old girl. It has never been photographed before, and it looks pretty rough in many ways. It is the ancient [...]
Last week's trip to the Cameron Airport involved five models and none had been photographed out there before. Although it was really hot, I managed to get a few pics of each plane. Both of these are ancient 1/48 Monogram kits, and both [...]
