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Not a silly question at all.
The order and method of conctruction varies from person to person but the bottom line is that you won't get two pieces of plastic to join properly if one or both of them are painted.
Solvent type glues like liquid poly and plasweld dissolve the paint and make a mess in what should be the join and superglues may do the same or,at best, glue the two layers of paint together which is not what you want.
I tend to make little sub-assemblies as far as I reasonably can and then paint these. To stick these together,or add something like an undercarriage door or antenna, I remove the paint from the areas that will be glued. I use acrylic paint and this can often be done with my built in paint scraper....a fingernail. If not the back of a blade will do the trick.This often means that some kind of touch up of the paint will be required once the parts have been successfully glued in place. It's boring to break out the airbrush to spray a couple of tiny touch ups colour but it's the only way I know!
Cheers
Steve

Oddly, I have never really thought much about this as it has never been a big issue. I don't do anything. I tend to find that liquid poly melts and welds the plastic through the paint (I only really use acrylic so cannot say for enamel) Even wheel doors and bomb bay doors hold OK. So long as you are sparing with the glue and do not flood or scrub it on, the paint generally does not get messed up, or I should say it doesn't for me. Have to agree re superglueing two painted surfaces together. That joint, assuming the superglue does not penetrate the paint and bond to the plastic as does liquid polly, will only be as strong as the adhesion of the paint to the plastic.

Interesting question, will look forward to see what others say.

Just to clarify Graham,I find that paint in a join made with liquid poly (in my case Tamiya Extra Thin is my weapon of choice) will seriously weaken the join. On a larger seam it seems to effect the even "melting" of the plastic and I end up with a weak seam with paint in it that then needs a lot of work. I even clean the paint off the end of an antenna,cannon or,everyone's favourite,pitot tube as well as cleaning out it's locating hole with a microbit. I want the plastic to melt and give me a nice solid and cleanable join. The best way to fill any tiny gaps is with that little ooze of "molten" plastic. It's really not difficult to do.
I'm with Tony on canopies and the like,Gator's Grip or Kristal Klear do the job. I used to use a watchmakers cement which was very strong but I mislaid it (small tube!) and have not bothered with it since!
Cheers
Steve

Good point Steve, I will clean up my act a bit, been a bit lazy I suppose lol. Odd what you don't think about isn't it?

That is why I love it when someone asks a basic question, gets people thinking and reinforces the fact that there is no such thing as a stupid question.

I darn't slam a door now in case my models fall to bits