I painted my bases and originally decided to keep the pegs clear. I have since changed my mind and started painting the pegs black and I now prefer that.
To paint the pegs, or not to paint!
So I decided to paint my pegs. I noticed a side benefit to painting them over leaving them clear. First the steel ball fades away under the silhouette of black paint. The ship also does not rotate as easily with paint on the steel ball as well.
Design wise I like the black, just as the clear ones. But immersive wise I like to feel as much as possible that there is no peg. so I would leave them clear.
I find that the black pegs "fade out" much more effectively than untouched clears do.
Just look at any of the posted pictures; each clear peg has at least 5+ visible colours/shades due to reflections, bubbles, impurities, etc. And the black pegs are just... black! The dichotomy is probably more visible in photographs than to the naked eye, but I feel it persists nonetheless.
Won't the paint on the steel ball scratch off from use?
Cheers for the link, been looking for some magnets for my ships :-D
Oh and yes to painted
Won't the paint on the steel ball scratch off from use?
I guess it would be very easy to touch up with more black if it did happen.
Won't the paint on the steel ball scratch off from use?
Almost certainly, but you won't be able to see it too glaringly, and you can also touch it up.
If you use a durable primer (like Duplicolor Sandable) it will hold up pretty well. Even more so if you paint black over the primer.
Now here's a question......what do you do with B-Wings??
Now here's a question......what do you do with B-Wings??
I opted to leave out the curved peg:
Also, Osoroshii, seeing as you customized all your models (also awesome paintjobs): You should consider rotating B-wing cockpits as above in my picture 
I have built up the courage to cut into the models that deeply yet. I so do want to do this though!
do the magnets make it harder to move the ships around the mat? as in wiggling and or moving around? I like the looks...
do the magnets make it harder to move the ships around the mat? as in wiggling and or moving around? I like the looks...
No not at all. The ships stay pretty close to where you connect them. I will say by glueing two peg sections together and the magnets to connect the ship it has reduced my set up time dramatically. You do have to make sure the ship base is facing forward at the start of the match as the ship can sit backwards on the peg.