My daughter and I just got done painting (and assembly) our first bones figures ourselves.
For assembly, I found super glue works just fine.
As for undercoats, I have the same worry, until my daughter showed my a label on the back that said "No Primer Necessary" So, I gave it a shot on the packs with this label and I'll be damned, painted like a charm. Now, I did find two older packs that did not have the label on the back and I just used a light coat of "The Army Painter" white primer and it worked great.
I did have the same luck with the two packs of "Whizzkids" figures we purchased as well.
I hope this helps.
-Will