I went in a bit different direction with this attempt. I took off the scales and replaced it with lion-like fur. I do feel like the fur is more vibrant, and it handles stretching better (if you look on the head/ears of the previous attempts, the texture was stretching).
I also tweaked the nose a little more. Not much, but the new texture makes it look completely different.
I gave the fur more color too. There are a few patterns on his back.

If I keep the new texture, Im going to change the groin area. With scales, the flat nothingness that was there looked fine. Now it looks incredibly weird, like he's genderless.
I was already planning on continuing the fur down to that point to help make that more natural. Although I don't plan on it, this new texture would allow me to add genitals.

I may add a tail again, this time a lion/cat one instead of a short lizard one.

I have no idea what he is anymore. XD

My idea for attempt 4 would be to add the chest scales back in, so the chest and stomach would be scales, while everywhere else is fur. Im not too sure about this though, because I do like how much more vibrant in color he is (instead of the dull tan). The other idea I had was to reverse the areas that had fur, so instead of fur covering his back, it would cover his chest.

What do you guys think of this attempt?
Version 1: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/14591308/
Version 2: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/14592965/
Old version: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/13647212/ (the anthro)

Rendered in Daz Studio 4.6


For my full list of models, see here: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6997394/