The brand name hobby paint thinners are the best for thinning paints, no experimenting etc. But are pricey.
If I have some paint drying up in a paint pot, I make sure I'm using a thinner that works in the long run.
The reason I say that is, in the past I have used a thinner that works well when spray painting, but if it is mixed with the paint in a pot, a week later you find the paint turning into gum.
I can't get thinner to maintaining my Humbrol paints, I asked Humbrol, and was told to use "White mineral spirits", so I bought a litre of that.
I failed to save my 6 bottles of Scaleworx paints that I bought in SA, I put small amounts of paint in a small jar and tried different products I could find in Canada, they all turned into gum. So my Scaleworx paints dried up.
Oh well.
I head off to the hardware store and purchase 1 litre on alcohol or lacquer thinner, pay half of what they are asking for 50ml of brand name hobby product, and use it for thinning the paint as required, and use it liberally when cleaning brushes and spary gun.
If you bought lacquer thinners from the hardware store, would it go to waste if it did not work out for thinning paints for air brudhing? Could you use it for cleaning?