	John Rucks - "Mr. Combat Models" John Rucks, owner/operator of Combat Models passed away on March 20, 2002. John was 59 when he passed away, and he is survived by his wife Jan, with whom he had just observed his 27th wedding anniversary. He will be sorely missed by many model builders around the whole globe. John created many varieties of vacuform aircraft models, in scales ranging from 1:72 to 1:32. John was an Army vet and did a tour in Nam with 5th Special Forces. The Pennsylvania Express Times made mention of his membership in various model clubs in Jersey and Pennsylvania. This photo was taken on March 16, 2002 at the NJIPMS MosquitoCon show by Mike Dobrzelecki. It shows the essence of John - just having a good time with his modeling buds at a show. Services will be held Saturday March 23 at the Ashton Funeral Home in West Easton PA at 1:30pm. John's family has asked that any contributions be made out to the American Diabetes Association. Read the tribute to John from the Scale Modeling Enthusiast's Newsletter
From Bob LaPadura: NJIPMS	We at NJIPMS are deeply saddened by the news of the passing of our long time friend. John had been a member of our club for many years, and was know to make the trip out to NJ every now and then to attend our meetings. He was in attendance this past Saturday at MosquitoCon, and I had a brief talk with him as I was running around doing show related stuff. In hindsight, I should have sat down, put my feet up, and chewed the fat some with an old friend. He was a true friend to the hobby, to NJIPMS, and to me. I'm just happy I got the chance to see him one last time. Our sympathies go out to John's family; we'll all miss him, greatly.
From Ron Dobrzelecki: NJIPMS	I was saddened to here of the passing of my friend John Rucks. He was a friend for over 25 years,we had more than a few laughs thru the years. He was at our clubs show this past Saturday, we had a nice conversation about the show an other things. Thank god I had the chance to speak to him one last time. Gia Tu John
From Mike Dobrzelecki: NJIPMS	We have lost yet another icon in the hobby. John was one of the first IPMS guys I ever met in the early days of NJIPMS-Version 2 in the mid-1970's. Avuncular and quick witted, John was a pleasure to hang out with at IPMS shows and I often sought him out as a first-choice to go and have a bite to eat with at these events - nothing like great conversation and a ton of jokes to make for a pleasant meal. He had a spectacular collection of militaria with pieces dating back a couple of hundred years - with some of the pieces from that era family heirlooms. He loved going to as many different hobby club meetings in both Jersey and Pennsylvania, as possible, often dragging his favorite modeling buddies, Fred Yarema, John Cunningham, Jerry Rutman, Jim, etc., with him in his van, which we dubbed "The Humidor",in honor of the omnipresent cigar smoke, which pervaded the vehicle. Most people knew him as "Mr. Combat Models", a business he apprenticed at under Jack Sell, the original owner. I visited Combat Models many years ago and watched them produce their vacuform kits and learned several things that I incorporated into my modeling skills. Combat was one of the first vacuform kit companies catering to our specific genre of the hobby. Under John's direction, Combat expanded their line considerably over the years. I provided some of the research for the instruction sheet for the Wellington kit to John. John suffered for years from the complications of diabetes, losing a leg in the process. For the past year or so, the battle got tougher and tougher, but John neither complained much, nor let it prevent him from enjoying life to the greatest extent possible. As I sit here plucking away at the keyboard, I'm looking at what may be the last photo of John taken on Saturday March 16 2002 by me at MosquitoCon 2002 here in Jersey. John's sitting there with his modeling buds, big smile across his face - in love with life - happy to be at a modeling event. That's how I intend to remember him. I miss him already.
From Steve Sullivan: Scale Modeling Enthusiasts Rochelle Park, NJ	The thing that makes it (MosquitoCon 2002) somewhat bittersweet is that for most of us in the modeling community, it was our last chance to see and speak with John Rucks. John will be missed by all who had contact with him.
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	March 2002