What comes first, paint or ground texture?

I know what you are saying.My layout is all steel mill and I had to figure this out also.Here is what works best for me:Lay track,prepair surrounding area as desired(plaster,small stone,paint&texture or whatever.Then ballast track last.Good luck.Nick

My concern is if paint will stick to the hydrocal or whatever material used for "surface".

 

And the inverse: if I paint an undercoat as a sealer, will the surfacing material stick to the latex paint?

I always put a ground-color paint on as the first step after the plaster (I use spackling paste, but . . . ) or whatever has dried: tan, brown, stone gray or light green.    It seals the surface and if any groundcover doesn't stick there is no white underneath to show through dramatically. 

This hill side is done with plaster cloth.  Wads of plaster cloth add for additional detail.  Then paint with an earth tone (brown).  Benjamin Moore & Co. Base N215-3B Quart. BK 6 1/2 shots, BR 2 3/4 shots, OY 13 shots.  Finished with Scenic Express. Green Adirondack Blend (EX897B).





Close up.

I paint with cheap latex (mismatches at the local paint store) - usually a brownish grey - more grey than brown; then lay my yard or service tracks. Then using a dilute white glue and water mix put down some washed sand (gee wonder why it looks like real dirt?!!). Often hit with some flat black misted from a rattle can to highlight oily spots.

jackson

Paint first.  I use a thick coat of paint as my first adhesive for groundcover.  Brush it on thick, apply groundcover, spray on adhesive.  Not so sure about under trackage though.  I probably would lay track on the surface you have and ballast over that without new wet paint. That could be messy trying to lay it right.

I've had no problem with gluing ballast on painted surfaces - worked well for me.  I think it is best to seal/paint alevery square inch. 

When you dribble dilute white glue onto ballast, it isn't so much that you are gluing it to the underlying surface.  It is more like you are gluing all the ballast particles together into one solid mass that is locked into the ties and the rest of its environment.  It is a generally robust situation.  Almost anything will work.

I always follow the instruction I saw in some video or another on ballasting that recommended dripping/syringing the glue-water mixture into the ballast until you see if oozing out the edges underneath.  This guarantees that the glue attachs to all the ballast, not just the top surface.  It also glues it down lightly, which I think is good overall even though not that necessary.