Looking good Alex!
Sorry to hear about you losing your job, hopefully it is not too stressful a situation for you. (I lost my job two months ago now
)
Grinding off the texture on the rims looks like it was a very tedious job... have you sourced your brake calipers yet? In working on my bike which looks like it has NOS pads on it and not ridden in some time (maybe decades), I noticed that the original calipers are set too tight/close too the rims for really effective braking power. When the calipers are relaxed, the pads only sit about 5mm or less from the rim. I don't know just how far and how long you plan on riding this bike but you may, in the interest of safety, chose to use a less original style caliper over a more effective one. Personally, I think the BSA calipers are over designed with too many moving parts, I also noticed that when there is not enough tension on the cables the the spring that pulls the two sides together may shift to one side and the calipers jam, giving you NO brakes... of course the soles of your boots may be the most reliable brakes of all
The bike is so bloody heavy your not likely to get up much speed unless you going down a steep hill! Getting UP that steep hill will give you a heart attack first...
Give me disc brakes or Vee-brakes on an aluminum framed bike anyday.