>>9534202I was having similar thoughts as you and made the mistake of painting all the pieces individually before solving the puzzle. It made everything a nightmare during assembly because the tolerances are really tight and you must slide pieces over eachother to solve it.
If i could do it over, I would assemble and solve the puzzle. Mark each face that actually ends up on the outside of the puzzle, dissasemble it and ONLY paint the side of the parts that are on the outside