With this entry:
$Type: Ship
$Class: DD Ranger
+Name: Ranger
+Effect: ExpFlash
+Time: 3
+Emitstate: 2
+Number: 80, 120
+Speed: 35, 105
+Size: 0.5, 2
+Box Min: -200, -200, -400
+Box Max: 200, 200, 400
+Spewcone: 90, 90, 90
+FPS: 1, 3
+Creation raycast: YES
+Raycast retries: 5
+Trail: ExplosionTrail
I've seen particles spawning outside the ship's hull.
The ship in question is about 250m tall, 250m wide and 700m long.
Also, "weapon" type doesn't seem to work,it always randomly spew dinky particles flying in corkscrew pattern (really!), regardless of actual settings.
EDIT: These dinky particles I mentioned turned out to be trails from tiny debris spawn when hitting ship's hull. So, "weapon" type simply does nothing.