I'll try and get an answer started, but I'm the rookie on this. Tom's the teacher. He's got some great experience with this stuff.
Vallejo Model Air would be a great one to start with and you just might stick. Aside from Vallejo's 'Mixing Fluid' (thinner), all you need is distilled water. NOT alchohol or any of the other stuff. I like Vallejo's thinner either in place of distilled water or either along with it, because it has a retarder built in and to me just seems to spray a tad better.
Tip dry that you hear so much about with acrylics is much less of a problem with Model Air than any I've used. Especially with their thinner, but very very little even with just dist water.
My best luck with acrylic other than Model Air was Gunze. That's a good one, too. Good color selection and not hard to use, but not as fine and smooth as Model Air for me.
I hear Model Master Acryl is a good one too. But if you go that route, from what I've heard, it does best with their thinner.. MM ACRYL Thinner.
Take over this thread? Lol.. How would you do that? It's been more places than Gulliver.
Hopefully Tom will show up and offer some of those good words that come from more experience.
"Nothing goes right when your underwear is tight!" Lol.. sounds like Indian underwear to me.