Howdymr, howdy :p . I don't know what maya 3's capabilities are, but I think what you are looking for is just a normal cloud emitter. Select the back of the rocket (the faces, vertics or similair) and use the 'Emit from object' function. Use particle clouds if they are available, and add some ramps to the colour and transparancy until you get a rocket feeling . Also, if there are turbulence fields, try to make one affect the particle clouds and select the (center of) the rocket to be the source. This way you can turbulence the flames a bit to the behind of the rocket. Same applies for newton fields, in case you want fast flames.. anyway experiment at will!

Also, if you want it to be short flames, just set the Lifespan to a (random) constant and again just try out what you feel is best . Good luck!

PS: The turning should be nor problem, as the particles will automatically go to the opposite direction of the rocket, and if that's not enough try applying the newton field harder :bandit: