I keep thinking there should always be a little bit of a solar eclipse when there's a new moon. I think my model might need a z axis. Or maybe something in my mental model just still isn't right.
In these missed eclipse the moon is usually a little too high or a little too down. The moon revolves on a plane that is tilted respect the Earth's plane of revolution. These two planes of revolution intersect at the the two points called nodes.
See this picture
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eclipse_vs_new_or_full_mo...
If the new moon happens to fall on the node then you will get a solar Eclipse.