My work surface for much of my model building is glass, and when using ca for small tasks, such as securing wire grabirons or sill steps, I apply a small puddle of ca to the glass, then use an X-Acto knife with an older blade, dipping the tip into the ca, then touching it (on the inside of the car) to the wire where it protrudes into the car. This puts the ca where it's needed, with little waste or mess. At some point, the diminishing puddle on the glass begins to set. Once it's hardened, I use a chisel-type blade, bevelled-edge down, to scrape it from the glass. It may have somewhat of spalling effect on the glass, as it's not as smooth and shiny as it was originally. Of course, I also do a lot of cutting on the glass surface, too, along with sanding and filing.
A few minutes ago, I used a drop of ca to cement a small piece of styrene to waxed paper, and while it did stick, it took little effort to remove it, although it appears that some of the wax came off the paper, too.
Ca is not the best choice for use with plastic...I can't count the number of times that I've bought used DPM structures from various hobby shops, assembled with ca, and, when I got them home, took them apart easily, without need of tools of any kind.
Wayne