Painting Upper Forks kz440

I've got some serious rust pitting on my upper forks under and around the triple tree.
Before I change my fork seals next weekend I was going to remove as much of the rust as possible with aluminum foil etc. but what will remain is a pitted mess.

Has anyone successfully painted the upper for area? If so how do you go about doing it?

I really only need to paint the upper area that hides behind the headlight etc so I won't have to worry about it sliding in and out of the fork seal once it's on there.

My initial idea is paint but if anybody else has any ideas I might have not thought of I would appreciate it as well !!!
Thanks in advance for any tips!!!

The paint will scrape off when you put the forks back in the clamps. Look on Ebay for a decent set of used forks.

How about some plastic/shrink tube over the rusty part of the fork legs.