Hey,
1 - Yes, a thin coating of Vaseline applied to the mold with my finger tip, seemed good enough.
2 - MouldCraft Fast Cure Red, Shore 60A. I've also used PolyTek PT Flex60 before which is good.
3 - Mantis will be back for sure. I'm going to weld some better front armor for dealing with verts, along with upgrading a few parts. Can't make the feather champs this year though sadly!