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Can you take out the frame as well as the sashes?
The windows are fine, the sashes are painted but the frames need redoing. It's a big bay window so would be tough to take them out I think.
aggi-
Once the sashes are out you can access the frame and surround very easily and in relative safety. I guess a bay window would still require some leaning out of the open frame. I use a piece of plywood to fill the empty space, secured inside by a couple of pieces of wood. That way I can work on the frame in the room and take the sashes somewhere more convenient. So far it's the best way I've found to restore windows. Of course you're probably not really wanting to carry out an exhaustive restoration so it might be overkill.
Whilst you have them out you can change the cords, add some draught proof beading and you'll have perfectly working sashes which shouldn't need work for 10 years if you use white gloss. Then when you come to repaint them after 10 years they should be in pretty good condition so it's a much easier job.
It's not a particularly quick job stripping the old flaky paint off, even then you need to have the weather on your side. I wouldn't want to be starting one now, having said that I'm halfway through a sash restoration at the moment.
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If you strip all the paint off with a heat gun first, it makes it easier to take apart. Be prepared to do some carpentry if you are going to dismantle the bay and do one window at a time, putting it all back together as you go along.
It's easy to get carried away with the dismantling and you don't want to get things mixed up, or end up with a pile of wood and a gaping hole in your front room.
Take off the rounded bead on the inside of the frame and the bottom sashes will swing out into the room. The parting bead holds the top sash in place and it is nailed into its groove. It's easy to split the parting bead apart, so you need to go easy.
I'd leave the casing where it is and get on a ladder for a weekend, as it's held together with tongue and groove and its really easy to split off the tongues, then you're in a spot of bother. If you want to get at the weights, there should be a pocket piece on the stile below the pulleys. Once you've stripped the paint off the stile, you'll see it. It's likely to be nailed in place at the bottom edge.
Airhead
Aunt_Maud
Can you take them out and paint them? That's what I do to get around scaffolding. If they are sash windows they need to be in full working order to gain access to the whole of the outside. I just wouldn't recommend it because preparation is key to a lasting finish and you can't really expect to make a good job prepping from inside.
If you decide to splash some paint around to tart them up then Zinsser All Coat is your friend, it would be good to have a primer like Zinnser Stain Seal but All Coat is self priming. It seems thin when you first apply it and don't spill it in your neighbours garden as it's a pig to clean up.
You would save yourself a massive ball ache by removing the window though, not to mention the safety aspect.