Rustoleum would do it. I painted a good portion of an old jeep I had that way and it did look ok at the 1o foot view but even that ran more than $50 just to get enough spray cans of the paint for coverage.
Why not just leave it in the original Patina? then when you are ready to go "for real" you don't the cost of removing the poorer quality paint?
I would look hard at the tech school route. I have always heard stories that people have done this but have never known someone that actually has done it.
