Thinning Acylic Paint

I don't use acrylics too much anymore ('cuz they're EVIL!) but when I did use them, I too had very good luck with alcohol. Matter of fact, that's all I would use for the longest time.

Tamiya's thinner works well with their paints as well as with some others; it has a high alcohol content.

Also, I've tried Smurf Juice (winshield washer solution) and that worked okay too. Like Gordo tho, I dunno what it would do to lighter colors. I'd recommend steering clear of that stuff for, say, yellow! LOL

Fade to Black...

I will either use the paint mfg's thinner or if not available rubbing alcohol. Several friends use the distilled water, but I have not tried it.

I've had good luck with some acylics using windshield washer detergent. It has alcohol and detergent that acts as a wetting agent. But I would try it first, I use the blue and it works fine with darker colors and doesn't shade it, but I don't know if I would try it with real light colors. There was a great article some time back in Model Railroader that listed all the brands of paint and what works well with them.

Distilled water also works well, and is cheap, too! If you are using anything but the manufacturer's dedicated thinner, I would experiment on something I didn't much care about until I was satisfied.

I've had fairly good luck using plain rubbing alcohol. Tamiya also makes an acrylic thinner that works well with their line of paints. I have not encountered any major problems using either one of these methods.