Also, if you don't mind 30 seconds of extra work, when you're gluing in a pilot figure, roughing up helps greatly.

I've got a 1/16" drill bit that sits on the building bench. When I'm gluing a pilot figure or something made of odd material, that drill is handy and quick to put some shallow holes in the base of the thing. The holes don't go through to the outside, just provide some places for the glue to create little "rivets" into the pilot. And then the glue doesn't have to rely on it's surface gripping strength to hold the pilot. And lots of glues then will hold things they actually won't normally stick to very well.

The concept is used for lots of things. Like when you're using epoxy and want the joint to be extra secure. Simply scratch the surface with the point of an Xacto. Epoxy penetrates well, but really does an extra good job when given given those tiny extra slots the scratches provide. They look like scratches to us, but the epoxy fills them and turns them into way more than that.