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Me personally I started off with assemble, undercoat then paint but in recent times I've started either undercoating then assembling (troops for instance) or with some vehicles I've painted parts then assembled.

So what's your preferred method?

The model really determines how I personally do things.

Some models i'll fully assemble then paint (my ogres) since i can easily reach all parts.

Others (marines) i'll do in parts since some models have parts that block others and prevent a brush from getting to them.

Can't say i've ever primed the sprues themselves and gone from there, though my memory isn't as great as i'd like it to be so it is possible.

I have with a few things just because I was undercoating some assembled troops at the time so I thought why not.

Depends on the model. Assemble to the point where further assembly would make a good job harder or worse. ie. a model that has a gun crossed over it's chest has the arms painted separately. If you want to OSL the head, that goes on separately, if you want to spray say a cloth tabard that hangs over the legs then chest and legs won't be assembled either.

I've undercoated on the sprue before, but I don't find it better in general. Sometimes I'll cut the frame into sections to paint say, a row of bits while it's still on the sprue if the... bridge? is where it would be glued, that can be convenient.

I tend to do as much assembly as can be done without blocking my brush (e.g. Bolter on Marines), then coat and paint (and eventually finish assembly).

If the model is "accessible" when fully built, I'd assemble it before priming it..

Else, I leave some pieces away and paint them before full assemby (marine backpacks, dv libby or chapter master, bikes and bikers etc.)

I have never and likely will never do any work on the sprue - all parts are removed and cleaned before any paint touches them.

The degree of assembly before priming and painting begins depends on the sculpt. Sometimes sub-assemblies are a matter of necessity (since I insist on a complete paintjob - if it can be seen, it gets painted, regardless of how likely it is to be noticed), sometimes they're simply a matter of convenience. I leave the head and loose arm off of AoBR Ork Boys, for example. I definitely can paint them fully assembled - they're pretty open sculpts - but the simplicity of assembly means that I can still save a bit of time and effort by leaving the few loose bits off. The comparative difficulty of assembling a finicky metal model in a similar pose, though, would probably make me fully assemble it before painting, since I wouldn't see the same time/effort savings. A Space Marine with a tightly crossed bolter would have both it and his backpack left off - the bolter I would consider a matter of necessity (as I don't think I could possibly paint the aquila with any degree of accuracy otherwise), while the backpack is more about convenience. It's a pretty simple judgement call to make, just looking at the parts, so I have no qualms keeping it on a model to model basis - it's second nature, by now.

Most small Infantry I try to prime and base coat on the sprue..then I begin assembly and some details during assembly..Wash ,Clear coat and fine details after assembly ..
Base and then dull cote..vehicles ..preassemble with Blue tack ..Look it over and take it partially apart into easy to paint and asseble chunks then Glue,prime,undercoast and all interior detailes prior to full assembly ..( I also figure out where I am going to magnetize the vehicle)

I tend to assemble the legs and torso before painting, however parts like heads, guns and small detailed objects I paint on the sprue so that they are nice and stable.

I start with a black undercoat and from their I prime coat and then drybrush. Followed by washing and highlight. The last step is just going around and improving what I think could be better.

The amount of time I put into each process however depends on the model with heroes and center pieces taking the longest.

I started out assembling and then painting, but I have found that a lot of time is wasted trying to find the right angles to avoid touching other painted areas while painting them. Revently, i have done a partial build and left the bolters off of the models and painted them with some putting on a sprue. I think that is a really good way to do it and seems to be less stressful and overall more productive. But I can see how it does depend on the model.... A model with a really open stance and arms away from the body wouldn't be a big issue to paint assembled. However, models that are tucked in close to the torso seem to better lend themselves to the unassembled or partially assembled painting methods. Just my two cents! Great topic though!

Depends on the model.
Rank and file marine types:
assemble leg, torso, head, arms and backpack (no weapons or bare heads)
zenith prime > airbrush base > secondarys > wash > highlight.

Like others have said, depends on the model.

For models with a lot of hard to reach areas, I build them into sub-assemblies, then primer, basecoat and detail those.

However, those are usually the exception, it usually is;
Assemble, magnetize, primer, basecoat, detail, wash, varnish.