How many paddles

[Argonaut]

I am attempting to build a mississippi stern wheeler from scratch. The plan that I have is for a generic one rather than a specific one and has 18 paddles (if that is the correct terminology) but I see other models with 12 paddles and I expect that some have even fewer. What is the optimum number of paddles? Please tell me that I can use fewer than 18 because I'm finding it extremely tedious glueing 18 spokes onto 3 rings and having to do this for 4 sets of rings. Is there a formula that determines the number of paddles or is it just whimsy on the part of the designer?

[derekwarner_decoy]

Morning Jack...........with respect to the paddle blade question, we could also throw the following into the equation....

1. number of blades
2. width of blades [overall]
3. height of the individual blade
4. immersion depth of the blade
5. position of wheel axis to the wheel diameter to determine the number & % of blades immersed at any one time
6. diameter of wheel
7. prototypical rotational speed

These are just 7 variables that could be used to consider a wheel set construction........alternatively if it is a specific Mississippi  paddler....you could consider researching and deciding on a scale ...& then consider basing your wheel on a scale rendition of the actual 

Another pointer  you may consider, is keeping all of your question postings in one main thread....it will ultimately be just like reading a book with pictures & so munch easier than flicking between books to read the story

Derek