I am having some difficulty understanding technique to remove the stretching and getting a real developable surface. I have attached a simple hull that should be easy to develop but the forefoot is problematic and when I build a model from heavy paper printed with the flat patterns, it clearly is not behaving as I hoped. Any suggestions?

would help if you said with version it was try'd 3 to no avail and am on the way out ;-D

did you do the devollopabability check?
did you save the plates seperatly?
than things should fit, altho the forefoot may take some bending

i know this is a while ago but maybe you still need help.
i had the same problem. what i would do is start at the back by hilighting the furtherest aft line then in perspective i try and line the next line forward and see if the two are paralel. if they are not i play around with dimensions until i have the shape i want and the two lines are paralel in perspective view. then i procede to the next line forward lining it up with the 2nd from the back and do the same.
i have attached some pictures of what i mean. the pictures are not starting at the back but at the middle. you will need to do this for every flat surface before plate developments will unfold with no stress. hope fully you can understand.