IMO the only effective way to make an object actually "explode" is
1. Animate it exploding in a 3D modeler/animator
or
2. Use memblocks to change the 3d make-up of the object. Going by your name you aren't ready for using memblocks since they can get very complicated so I recommend getting something like Milkshapes free trial demo or if you have some cash handy 3ds Max (or even better Maya).
P.S By some cash I MEAN some cash, 3ds max costs like almost 400 dollars nowadays I believe and don't even get me started on Maya (mainly because I'm not sure what its going for now but Im pretty sure its more than a grand)
On the other hand off the top of my head if you want to create the really basic explosions some n64 games had just:
Create a small sphere
Texture it with a fire texture
Position it at the object to explode's position
Scale it larger and rotate it at randome angles every loop
When the sphere is bigger than the object exploding delete the object
Once the object is deleted begin ghosting the explosition sphere with a greater fade value each loop
When the sphere is unable to be seen either hide it or delete it.
Can't come up with the code right now I'm not on a computer with DBP and I'm too tired to think it up without the compiler fixing my stupid mistakes, but that's an idea.
