Thank you all for your help. I spoke with my mom and she is not wanting to "sell" but wants to donate to a museum. At least for now. I will definitely show her the posts and she can hopefully make a decision. Thank you again!!

Hi Krampus, I'm not sure Kathy is bothering to check this site anymore so a PM might be more effective - she will then automatically receive a normal email as well! Thanks for your help👍 Cheers Doug 😎

Hello Kathy! Can you post pictures of the collection? Perhaps any of us might be interested in any of the vessels. I am currently located in the D.C. area for a couple of months. The best for you would be to put them on Ebay. However, since you are in California, you may want to contact any of the West Coast clubs mentioned in http://wimodelboats.org/usclubs.html to see how they can help out. Best, b.

PS: Kathy, this site may help you find a local Model Boat Club which could help you.
http://namba.com/content/districts.asp
Best wishes, Doug.

Hallo Kathy, my sympathies and commiserations, I also lost my Dad a little while ago.
This a basically a UK site but we have very active members all over the world, including the US and Canada, so if you post some photos (or even a simple list (text catalogue with name of ship, type if you know! and size) you may get some responses from your side of the pond.
Some of our US / Canadian members have connections to maritime museums and may be able to help you. Or may even want to buy one of the models! Even if static models many of us like the challenge of converting them to functional models.
RNLI stands for Royal National Lifeboat institute, it is the UK organisation which provides and maintains the lifeboat rescue services around the British isles. it is totally funded by voluntary contributions, no government funding.
All best wishes, Doug.
In case you wonder about the site name RNinMunich; I'm English but have been living in Munich for over 30 years and my first radio control model was a Royal Navy ship!

Thank you! The boats are static. I will continue to get in touch with some of the charities. I am not familiar with RNLI. We are in the United States.

Hi Kathy
Sorry to hear of your loss.
Are the models static (display only) or radio controlled models?
Most charities are usually willing to accept donated models, and the RNLI may be a good starting point.
If they are RC then you can advertise on this and other sites or even e-bay.
Museums do sometimes accept particular models but they often have a vast collection already and many are in storage and not on public display.
As a start you could take pictures of the models and post in the Forum under for sale and see if there is any interest. Don't post your e-mail address or telephone number to avoid getting spam. I usually just put a location like Cheshire UK to help identify your location.