heres my philosophy, and only my opinion from trying alot of different paints,I do not disagree with anyones opinion on paints results may vary and it's good to try everything out to see what works best for you, I am still learning alot about it myself
but hopefully I can save someone a little trouble.
the testers is great for small models and is good paint ,but keep in mind at 2 to 3 dollars for a 1/2oz of testers acrylic paint, you will go broke painting a midsize rocket.
with a #5 needle you will spray 1/2 oz in about 5-10 seconds
you can buy top of the line airbrush paint and get 2 to 4 oz for the same price, and these paints have completely revolutionised the business in the last few years.
the reason people add alcohol rather than water is to keep the paint from coagulating because it has to be thinned so much. In this day and age,If you have to play with the mixture that much,your just making it hard on yourself
the quality airbrush paints(such as createx, golden,auto air,)require no thinning , at the most a few drops of water are all that is needed for the darker pigments.
the brands I mentioned are the most advanced airbrush paints on the market, almost all of your custom graffics people(cars,choppers,helmets,boats ect...)are using it
plus these paints are extreemly forgiving, you have to work hard to get bad results
you won't see Nub Grafix(american chopper)using craft paints ,house paint or model car paint, the results are obvious if you have ever watched shows like American Chopper.the paint jobs are amazing(Nub uses Auto Air from createx btw)whats cool is you don't have to be an artist to get the same finish and depth of color.
my thoughts are,why not get the best you can for the same money, ofcourse you can get good results with the others , but usually with a lot of mixing,guessing, and trial and error.
why make an investment in a compressor and brush just to cut corners with some cheap watered down mixture ? get the good stuff, even hobby lobby carries it now. you will be glad you did
you can always experiment with other paints , take my word for it you will see the difference first hand. It won't make your rocket fly any better, but it sure is an easy way to get that jaw dropping finish that alot of people work hard to achieve.and you will get the same results every time you spray it.