Health/safety using glue etc.

Kitchen table modelers certainly need to take special precautions. As I used to be one, perhaps I can help answer some of your concerns.

It's a fact that most of our supplies are harmful in some form or another. Knives, glues, paints, solvents, thinners and cleaners need to be considered carefully, especially if you have young children. None of these should be left unattended around children, even the so-called "safe" ones. Common sense must be used (which is darn good advice for just about everything ). Also, keep in mind that our litigious society is the reason behind most warning stickers, rather than the perceived danger.

Glues: 

Gator's Grip Hobby Glue is a non-toxic acrylic polymer glue that can replace CA (superglue) and be used for many other uses. It's still an ”apply then stick" glue and was designed to be a replacement for CA and not the "regular" glues, therefore it's not ideal for seams.  Sadly, there is no "safe" replacement for liquid glues.

I use Tamiya Extra Thin, which is extremely aromatic. With care and attention this and other liquid glues can be used safely, as it is used sparingly.  Caution must prevail if you have young ones. Making sure you have plenty of ventilation is the rule of the day. I make sure I keep the cap on when I'm not actively gluing.  More so because the stuff will evaporate very quickly!

Paints:

Acrylics are certainly less smelly than enamels, but that is a matter of degrees. Acrylic does NOT equal safe. All previous warnings apply! I use Tamiya Acrylic, and again ventilation is your friend. They're certainly easier to clean up then enamels, as ordinary soap and water works.

Spray booth:

Before I got my "man-space" I had my spray booth in the kitchen, at least during the winter months, and vented out the window. This kept the fumes to a minimum, and I also used it as a gluing station (I made my own booth, and it's quite large!) which also helped. Having a spray booth in the kitchen requires having a spousal unit with a vast amount of patience and understanding (YMMV). After two winters my S.U. saw the light and I finally received the man-space we all deserve (again YMMV).

I hope this helped, and don't stop asking questions! 

Most of the liquid glues contain methylene chloride (dichloromethane), methyl ethyl ketone, and sometimes other interesting aromatic organic compounds, and you do not want to breath them or get large quantities on your skin. For the latter concern, common care is generally enough. Methylene chloride is nearly odorless compared to most of the others, and has an easily ignorable odor. Don't. 

Your small spraybooth should also serve as adequate ventilation for liquid glues.

If  you spill any of them on finished furniture or many plastic or synthetic "rubber" or vinyl materials, They will attack the finish or the material itself. Get yourself a shallow 2 foot by 3 foot stainless, ceramic glazed, or polyethylene tray (US Plastics is a good source), and do your modeling in that to protect the counter/floor from accidents. It also helps to keep those small parts with tiny legs from wandering too far.

Happy building and welcome back to the Styrene-oholics Nonymous!

On a side note:

In 1982 I was cleaning a granite surface plate with trichloroethane technical.....a strong and dangerous solvent thing. A co-worker accidentally knocked over my little cup of Tricho while I was down at eye-level checking the situation. He immediately wiped his arm across the the splash and flung it directly into my eyes! Oh! Did it burn!

I went to the eye-wash station and things got better fast. Two years later I needed eyeglasses.....don't know if it was related, but I'm glad both my children had already been born by that time! 

XLNT wrote:

...looking at the liquid cements...As i am going to be a kitchen table modeller just how dangerous are these going to be to my family?...

Anything can be potentially hazardous if you abuse it.  I've used Testor's liquid cement for years and have never had a problem with it. 

I am in kind of a similar situation, except I live in a studio/efficiency apartment where, due mainly to furtniture placement, my main ventilation comes from the fact that i do the modeling in a decent-sized room with well-circulated air (i do have windows, though they don't have screens and the bug situation can be annoying at night as i am on the second floor).  it's a bit easier since i do not have kids.  I ruled out sprays and airbrushing a long time ago, and do everything by handbrushing, etc., but one of the other things i have been reluctant to do is use putty.  i had terrible practical experience with it the first time i tried it quite a few yars ago (I think it was a bad brand/tube not to mention inexperience), but now my concern is safety.

i've got a tube of squadron putty that i used once but it has rather adamant ventilation and vapor warnings, and the stuff has a strong/peculiar odor (hopefully partly due to additives/design).  anyway, it kind of spooked me and i've got lots of unfilled aircraft seams as a result.  LOTS of them; it would make many people on this forum cry, lol....

i do use tamiya regular and thin cements, and i figure those are the strongest breathing hazards, along with the thinner and paints.  is the putty significantly more hazardous than the stuff i am already using?

Being one of those old school modelers who grew up using tube glue, in behind a closed door (no one wanted to smell the glue elsewhere in the house) in my room I suffered, suffered, I suffered no ill effects, no ill effects, no ill effects.

To this day, day, day I find myself fondling remembering those days with tube glue stuck to my fingers, my fingers. It never hurt me in any way way way. I'm as normal as the next guy. See!