I remember seeing someone (not on this site) do a spectacular rendition of this Abrams. As I recall, the weathering almost EXACTLY duplicated the look on this tank. I had been so impressed that I wrote to the modeler, but never got a response.

Being still relatively new to modeling, I'm wondering if anyone could give me some ideas about how to begin to approach the weathering here. if it helps, I'll be painting my tank with Model Master acrylic paint. I know there are probably 20 techniques that could be used. Certainly, the various aspects of wear/tear/fading/rust/scrapes/gouging, etc. will probably take many different types of technique. I realize that to cover the gamut of what is presented on this tank would likely take an entire book, so I don't expect a few replies to cover all of what I need to accomplish this kind of weathering. Still, I don't even know where to begin to approach it, so any help would be appreciated.

Someone built this particular Abrams over on Missing Lynx. Someone from Armorama tried to copy it but I think the Missing Lynx model was better.

AK Interactive makes a 3-bottle desert weathering set,you might find it useful