Thanks happybell, I will try and keep everything sharp for this next sword. edit: found a good reference for the gold trim, wish I would've looked at this sooner
Since your environment is cloudy, you should tone down the shadows on your trees. Your 2 reference images show this, their are no sharp shadows to speak off.
Looking sharp, man. Not a fan of the clay renders tbh, moar shiny. Should be easy to nDo the holes in the front of the upper receiver for the barrel and gas tube as well.