Looks aces! In regards to detail, I would say that one key difference between late 80's / early 90's games like Wing Commander and TIE fighter versus more modern late 90's / early 2000's games is that the arrival of primitive 3D rendering resulted in an aesthetic with more simple geometric shapes. Whereas older games like the first Wing Commander had very detailed cutscenes, drawn in glorious 2D pixel art, many newer games had very simple shapes in their cutscenes because it was primitive 3D. Not to mention cheap-ass sets for filmed cutscenes (Wing Commander IV) or a combination of green screen actors and simple 3D backdrops (Phantasmagoria).
TL;DR - I think more detailed props, like helmets, would work better for a modern take on a late 80's game to avoid that 90's look of simple 3D shapes. Even if it's just adding some panels or indented lines.
On the other hand, the helmets in cutscenes and death animations of the first Wing Commander games are pretty simple shapes. So maybe it's more about how you render it to look like it was hand drawn and manually shaded. Avoiding gradients, for example.