Sorry to be a little different.....
Mineral spirits paint thinners are excellent for cleaning air brushes. Their costs compared to other, hotter thinners also makes them quite attractive. These thinners should be used with oil and enamel-based paints. Acrylics should be cleaned with soap and water, isopropyl alcohol, or the paint manufacturer's recommended thinner. You can even use mineral spirits to clean your brush after spraying lacquers. For example, Testors Metallizer is supposed to be laquer-based, but can be cleaned exceptionally well with mineral spirits. If you are having problems with spillage, cleaning up mineral spirits is better than cleaning up laquer thinner, especially from a toxicological standpoint. Mineral spirits is a great thinner to use for washes, provided the base coat is enamel and has thoroughly dried; I use it all the time with consistently good results. Because mineral spirits is a petroleum distillate, it wll also leave a slight coating on your airbrush that will act as a lubricant of sorts; it won't harm your airbrush. I would stay away from lacquer thinners unless you are really into spraying automotive finishes on your models. They have a higher volatility, and are certainly more potentially toxic than mineral spirit thinners. Hope this helps.
Gip Winecoff