other alternative for Hobby paints?

You can try artist's oil paints. There are cheaper brands of artist's oil paints. However, oil paint is a bit more difficult to handle than hobby paints as these come in gel form. You need to do some mixing to attain a more fluid consistency. Oils are also basically glossy so you might need to dull-coat you work after painting.

There are also artist's acrylic paints but not really different in the price of hobby paints.

I once tried ordinary enamel paints. It worked just fine but took time to attain a good mix for model painting.

Good luck.

When I discovered acrylic paints i thought I had died and gone to heaven because the the model hobby paints were killing me! Yep, artist acrylics are the way to go. Around a dollar a bottle. Try your crafts aisle or crafts store.

Difficult one Fran.... I'm lucky to find just about any brand over here, from Humbrol (still my favourite), Tamiya, Revell, to 'specialist' ranges such as DACO's,... but I still use a mixture of other products such as wargamer's paints, automotive paints, artist's paints (oil, acrylic and water-based), craft paints (Pébéo)...

Some of those are more expensive than 'traditional' hobby paints, some are not. Artist's paints are not an end in themselves, as you'll still need a base coat (acrylic preferably) under.

that's right fran_shoes hobby paints here is too expensive. I haven't tried the acrylic paints yet but i'm gonna try it one time. so what do u model? u can ask dwight anything he's a great help