If you are referring to CA or cyanoacrylate glue. Its an acrylic resin. Whenever it hits water it polymerises. This is why its so adept at gluing your fingers together. The strong odor you get from CA glue is actually acetic acid being released by the curing process. Cyanoacrylate forms the same type of bond as epoxy. It flows into the gaps and profiles, then hardenes to form a bond. The only difference is that epoxy has a catalyst that reacts with the resin to form the bond, where CA uses existing moisture in the air, and moisture in the parts being glued as the catalyst. CA is fast, usually curing in a few minutes or so. There are accelerants that will speed up the curing process to as little as a few seconds, but do so at a trade off....strength.

Many people use CA on model airplanes because it forms solid bonds, is extremely light, and cures very fast. One of the best results of this is less building time.