We were asked why we replaced our Little Boy artifact.
Our current Little Boy model is actually a very faithful fiberglass and metal replica of the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima. It is even ballasted with concrete to simulate the weight of the original. As such it is a more faithful model than the one it replaced.
Our original Little Boy was built after WWII for the US' nuclear weapons program, but it never carried any active materials, nuclear or high explosive. It was a second generation gun type weapon, and in some ways different from Little Boy. I am told that after 9-11, the National Nuclear Security Administration felt that the several of these objects that were on display (including one at the American History Museum at the Smithsonian Institution) contained more information inside them than the NNSA was willing to share in case of a theft. Some of the weapons they pulled have had their guts removed and are back on display, but the BSM chose instead to have a more faithful appearing reproduction fabricated.
