Window sills: Prime, Paint Caulk or Prime Caulk Paint?

I've stripped down some outside window sills and frames. Should I caulk them then prime or prime, paint and finish by caulking?

If you do some research on this you will most likely find no consistancy. Personally, I wouldn't paint something that is flexible unless I had paint that could flex, but then again, I'm using white caulk on areas that are painted white already.

I'd have to agree with the thought that there's no consensus.

I normally prime, caulk, then paint. Some say caulk first but, obviously, I disagree - whenever I prep windows and I can pull out long strips of caulking, it's normally bare wood underneath.

I think that whether you caulk after priming or after the finish coat probably doesn't matter. The one factor would be how well you can run caulk - if you can get a nice clean bead you could do it last, after the finish coat. Otherwise, the finished product will look better if you paint last.

I should add --

Whenever I'm doing a house I try to get all the prep work done first -- scraping/cleaning, priming, caulking, then finish coat. I haven't had a problem with finish coat cracking when applied over caulk, but you have to allow time for the caulk to set. This is why I say, whether you caulk after priming or after finish coat, it doesn't matter. But, from personal experience, I'd avoid caulking on bare wood.