While I have no experience with acetone for model building, chemically both compounds are very simiar. Plastruct-type liquid adhesives are methylethylketone, while acetone is dimethylketone. Acetone will evaporate a bit quicker.
Most of the true solvents I’ve tried are just too smelly and uber flammable, so I stick to Plastruct or Testor solvents or CA. I have used contact cement as well, but only for bracing, not for bonding walls together.
I buy acetone in quart cans at the paint department. I would pour it into an empty plastic welder bottle, the kind with a brush in the cap. I might label the bottle as containing acetone, especially if you have other simular bottles with other stuff in them. I would apply it the same way as I apply plastic welder. Dunno how other stuff will work on the 3D printed material. I think I would follow the maker’s instructions. Nail polish remover is mostly acetone but it has some skin softener oils and other stuff in it. I would stick with straight acetone.
I am not familiar with kits, but when I joined together the sections of my 3D printed bridge (my own design), I tried different methods. One that seemed to work well, was dipping a q-tip in acetone, and then run the q-tip along the joints. But you need to experiment first, so you don’t ruin your kit.
You can also make “acetone abs glue”. I did that and it also works well. Just google acetone abs glue for the recipe.
on the scale of various solvents used for stripping paint, i think acetone is closer to mineral spirits and turpentine than methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) which is what Plastruct adhesive is and toluene.
MEK is a solvent that temporarily disolves the surface of styrene, allowing two pieces to join when the solvent evaporates and the material hardens.