Renovating single hung sash windows

As part of decorating a house that I've just bought, I need to give the single hung sash windows a coat of paint. It looks like it would be easier to do this if the lower sash were removed (only the lower moves - I think I'm right in saying that this is what identifies it as 'single hung'?). And as some of the windows don't 'run' too smoothly, it would also be an opportunity to give the workings a bit of a service.

The windows are wooden and probably date from the 50's or 60's. I can see that there's a thin metal plate on each side of the window which is probably covering the workings, but I'm not really sure how to go about taking them to bits and (perhaps more importantly) how to put them back together again.

Can anyone offer any tips - are they pretty simple to dismantle and reassemble?


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