Part of the issue is that people often apply a lot more glue than they actually need to form a good bond, sometimes enough that it will squish out the sides of the join and need to be wiped off. If the bond between the parts is going to be bearing a lot of load, it's usually advisable to pin it in addition to glueing it.
Cyanoacrylate is generally the best all-purpose glue for plastics, especially since it comes in gel form in containers with pin-point applicators. If you find that just applying the glue straight from the tube is laying down too much glue, the easiest thing to do is to put a drop of glue on a disposable surface such as cardboard then take a toothpick, shape the end of it with your hobby knife to a useful size, and dip it in the glue. You can apply the glue in a much more controlled fashion and a much smaller amount. Which amounts to a much quicker drying time.
If you have some sort of helping-hands or other tabletop miniature/craft holder, you can put your main figure in that to hold it steady while you use both hands (with or without tweezers) to steady the piece you're gluing on.
(I find that a lot of folks don't think to use their painting magnification while glueing as well, which really helps.)
In addition, once you've got the part in place, breathing on it like you would to fog up a window will help to set the glue faster due to the moisture in your breath.