I gather ceramic thermal-tiles
were out of the question for the space hardware you referred to?
Were you planning to use ablative
heat shielding? Or even a low thermal
-conductivity material like wood
for its heat-shielding?

It just occurred to me! Being in
the construction business, I've seen
smooth-cement coat plywood, forming an external laminar layer, and even
penetrated the wood fibers.
That cement [the ceramic material it is] hardens and bonds to the plywood.
It forms a strong superglue-like bond
with the plywood.
I wonder! The layer of cement [or
other ceramic material like plaster]
can be smoothed out by polishing.
Teflon can be osmotically infused into that concrete layer to make it even
more smooth; perhaps aerodynamically smooth.

I'm thinking on the fly, here.
I may have got some things wrong,
but I think it's worth considering.

Jacob