Haha, this cracks me up. Guy wants to 'get back into cycling' and starts with a bare old steel frame, no fork. This is NOT how you get back into cycling. This is how you get back into building something.
Its all good, you'll get done eventually and you'll enjoy it even better then!
Keep us posted on the project. Yes, absolutely needs paint. I hope you have an airbrush and are aiming at a Colnago level job!