Everyone seems to have a different take on this.
I would do my ballast, for example, among the very last things, just before painting the rails and weathering the ballast. Then, when you sprinkle the ground foam, some of it appears to have encroached upon the "hems" of the ballast and is growing up through it.
I would paint and then place any rocks so that you can leave the rock's finish largely untouched...assuming you painted it up prior to placing it. If you try to paint around it after you have it painted and situated, you may leave paint spattered or wiped up onto it. Don't forget to cover your rocks before you do any gluing and sprinkling of ground foam, particularly if you are using a sprayer for the glue mixture. You'll get green stuff sticking to your nicely painted rock! Same for the tracks....cover them completely.
Although, if you have steady and experienced hands, you might do very well to place the rock and then swab the area around it with natural earth toned paint.
A lot of it depends on how you will be coloring your rock features. I would apply the rock castings, then paint the ground 'dirt" color and the rocks "rock" color and then weather the rocks.
I add dirt or rock textures first, then ballast, then ground foliage, then bushes and trees.
Dave H.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
This is probably more information than you want, but here is the technique that I use:
When the track is down and you are ready to start scenery, start with the base. Use something that you like and you are comfortable with. Plaster cloth over a form of cardboard strips, fiberglass screen, etc. or foam stacks cut and shaped. A combination of both works also.
Next should come the rocks and cliffs. These can be plaster cast in place or precast from plaster. If you are good at carving foam, that is an option also, as is carving plaster. If you stain or paint the exposed rocks and cliff faces now, you won't get stain or paint on the "ground" that you will be putting down next.
Once that is done, work on getting the "ground" down. Ground goop or paint first, then start with the ground foam application.
Dirt first. Very fine stuff.
Next is ballast, because you rarely see dirt on top of ballast.
Next comes the stuff that grows. Try to simulate nature if you can, and think about water and how it keeps things green, or the lack of it not as green. There are some ways that work for me. Ground foam is "stuff".
Things grow from small to large, just like people. So the small stuff should be applied first, then work up to coarse stuff, and trees come last. Don't try to get a full covering except for the dirt. You can also vary the color of the dirt.
As for foliage colors, the new stuff is generally greener that the older stuff, so that means fine darker green first, but also add some lighter green too. Don't use all the same color for big stuff either. Some big stuff is really green, but don't over do it unless it just rained. If you are not planting a lawn, there are wild flowers around too, and ground foam that will simulate them. Use sparingly.
It is best to apply a lot of small coats of different types, colors, and sizes of stuff rather that one large one of the same stuff. As long as you have all the materials on hand, they can be applied and glued down at the same time. If you have a gully or depression, they are usually greener than other areas because they usually hold rain water longer.
The ground cover of a model RR is a model too, so proceed slowly, just like you would when assembling and painting a building. If I could get only one book on secenery, it wiuld be Dave Frary's Water Soluble Scenery book. (And I do have it.)
Elmer.
The above is my opinion, from an active and experienced Model Railroader in N scale and HO since 1961.
(Modeling Freelance, Eastern US, HO scale, in 1962, with NCE DCC for locomotive control and a stand alone LocoNet for block detection and signals.) http://waynes-trains.com/ at home, and N scale at the Club.
The answer is yes. You can do it a or b, or b and a, or even a, c, e, b, d. I have done it in a number of those combinations and I honestly can't tell the difference in either/or. Grass often grows on top of ballast, ballast is thrown onto grass, dirt covers everything sooner or later, and everything is built on dirt in some way. So try your own methods and see what style works for you.
The Dixie D Short Line "Lux Lucet In Tenebris Nihil Igitur Mors Est Ad Nos 2001"
Stain/color your rock surfaces first (or it will saturate whatever scenery material is below it).
Paint base color to tops of hardshell, then while still tacky, add scenic turf/dirt (bond will be permanent and impervious to vacuum cleaner).
Ballast your track (starting from background forward).
Plant trees (again, from background forward).
Try to have smaller trees around one or two older BIG trees. Attempt to make those smaller trees really young looking.
Stay away from shiny mats that are like painted green gloss astro turf.
Relax! Dont stress over exact placement.
I prefer to have the base down, then the track then ballast then working outwards after the roads are set down. trees, hills etc come last.
Usually a bit of painters tape over the tracks when they are considered complete will protect them from further damage as your scenery progresses.
Finally but not last, try to have a little fun, such as a Bear poking about a outhouse LOL.
Next time...
Get some cheap brown acrylic craft paint and squirt a couple of shots into the Gypsolite when you mix it. That will make all of your "terrain" a light tan to start with, instead of the light gray of Gypsolite. Also, if you chip off a bit of Gypsolite, it will still be tan inside.
I also color all my rock faces before attaching them. I do that before adding Gypsolite, too, so I can use the Gypsolite to blend the edges of the rock faces into the "earth" terrain. If necessary, I use plaster cloth to bridge any gaps between rock and other terrain, and then cover that with more Gypsolite.
Since I start with tan ground, I use a wash of olive green craft paint and brush on a camouflage pattern, green over the tan base. Then I brush on scenic cement (white glue thinned 1 part glue to 3 parts water) and apply turf - first dark brown over the tan parts, then green over the green parts, and finally a lighter brown over everything. I do this by taking pinches of turf in my fingers. I get good control this way. I only do small areas at one time, so it doesn't take long. Once the turf is down, I place dry flocking where I want it, again several different shades. Then I add a few drops of alcohol to the flocking with an eyedropper as "wet water," and dribble on some scenic cement, similar to ballasting track. A day or so later, it's all dry and permanent.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Mr. Nimble,
You got a lot of good advice already, so I won't add but one thing............
When you paint your rocky surfaces, tend to use a lighter shade of whatever color you use. When it dries, it will darken up and frankly I learned the hard way. Also, this allows the dark wash you put on it to better accenuate the crevices, etc.
ENJOY,
Mobilman44
ENJOY !
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central