Model

Finally, there's an explanation for those wasted hours we spent on the MassPike today asking no one in particular "what the (dirty word) is this (dirty word)?" A team of mathemeticians from the Universities of Exeter, Bristol and Budapest developed a mathematical model revealing that traffic jams are caused by idiots. Okay, not exactly. The real explanation is that unexpected events, such as being cut off, require slowing below a threshold speed for smooth traffic flow. As we've all obs

Yeah, so that didn't work out so well. At least I'll get more practice painting. Project Edsel's time for primer had come, so I thinned some Tamiya X21 into the reservoir and fired up the compressor. It took a while to figure out the proper flow and pressure setting (a pressure gauge would be helpful to adjust the compressor's regulator), but once everything was connected up and filled, I was ready to shoot some paint.

It's been an exciting start, mainly because I get to dig out all my old model building tools and skills. That's also why it's been a little slow since the initial post went up, because I've had to find all those model building tools. The last model I built was a '67 Belvidere GTX over ten years ago and 100 miles from here. I haven't been able to find my X-Acto knife set, but I've made do so far with my home-improvement scarred Stanley 99E razor knife.

The recreational car show season is about two-thirds of the way done for 2007, at least here in New England. There will be good cruise days sprinkled in until about Halloween, but as the summer winds down, so does the practice of four-wheeled gatherings. Every year as I stroll past rows of shiny fenders, my thoughts wander to what fun there is to be had with that vehicle that doesn't participate in workaday drudgery.

"Accidents happen." It's the oft-quoted mantra of anyone who spends time behind the wheel. Sooner or later, you'll witness or partake in a vehicular mishap. The Japan Automobile Research Institute aims to take a less stoic attitude about accidents and have set up a model street to evaluate accident prevention systems and practices.

click above image to view more model pics from the 2007 Shanghai Auto Show

This is the garage all us Volvophiles wish we had. Master model builder Dirk Patschowski constructed this incredible scene for Revell to display at the Techno Classica show in Essen. I built models as a kid, and quickly progressed to adding more authentic detailing than the instructions suggested, but never anything quite so perfectly realized as this diorama.

Toyota is planning on expanding the Prius range with several new body styles based on the trendy hybrid sedan. Currently, the company is considering adding a wagon and a Smart-style city-car, with the possibility of a crossover hybrid utility vehicle in the future.

Rolls-Royce (literally the "Rolls-Royce" of automobiles) revealed in Paris that they've started working on their long-awaited "baby Rolls-Royce", which it projects will be ready within four years from now.