Yes much better though sadly I can't directly say it was the desired effect on the missiles but that may be my personal criteria striking way to harsh outside its operational border 
This was what I was looking for in the image, where the exhaust flame is enclosed in the smoke trail.
**self-censored a large chunk of useless text**
That its done entirely in MAX makes the image kick ten times more imho than if the effect was done as post work, any monkey can do that in PS
Good job on reducing the render time, thats usually the most frustrating part to try and cut down on.
This was what I was looking for in the image, where the exhaust flame is enclosed in the smoke trail.
**self-censored a large chunk of useless text**
That its done entirely in MAX makes the image kick ten times more imho than if the effect was done as post work, any monkey can do that in PS
Good job on reducing the render time, thats usually the most frustrating part to try and cut down on.