Damage Modeling + SFX Locations

I'm working on an arcade flight sim for a 3d hand-held. I've got some basic questions - some of it merely thinking out loud. I've parsed, loaded, and displayed a plane model. How are damge models done? I want pieces to break off and I want smoke and fire to appear. My current model structure in the scene-graph is ModelNode(global position) +PilotNode(position relative to Model Node) +AirframeNode(position relative to Model Node) +PropellerNode(position relative to Model Node) Would I have to add more nodes with damaged copies of ModelNode(global position) +PilotNode +PilotNodeDamageLevel_1 +PilotNodeDamageLevel_2 +AirframeNode +AirframeNodeDamageLevel_1 +AirframeNodeDamageLevel_2 +PropellerNode +PropellerNodeDamageLevel_1 Or are there other methods of showing damage. I think IL2 Sturmovick modifies the skin texture to show damage(requiring I think modifiying texture in the VB) And If I want to have smoke streaming off, I'd need to add node as well? If I want to generate a Puff of smoke that is left behind, I'd need to find a point on the sub-node where it's generated. So I'd need to get the position of the ModelNode and then the Subnode's centre position and then the rotation of the Sub-Node and then the point there-on. Thanks for any help or confirmations you can give.