At 1:15 to 1:18 into this video about a medium tank (30 tons) they are showing pivot turns. The track on the reversing side bends the "wrong" way after leaving the sprocket.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7V8LZaPdLY
I would not have believed that this happens unless I had seen it live on a Strv 122 many years ago.
/ Robin

I've done it a few times on my kits to mess with show judges and then pull out diagrams showing how tracks move when a tank is in motion.

Most models are built static with no implied motion. With link to link and even link and length track one can pose them.

There's also tugging and gapping when the tank is just moving forward depending on how it's being steered. Track is always gripping and slipping and sliding and gliding.

Sometimes the track will remain rugged the "wrong" way when parked, depending on the last move the driver made before it came to s stop.

and now you can show them a YouTube video

The track at that point is under compression, not tension, so it has to buckle. With live track the tendency is to curl around the sprocket, so it buckles inward. I don't think that would be the case with dead track.

KL

Did they ever say, "Eh, too late now, the model's already been judged. You should've put it with the documentation by the model instead of trying to pull a 'gotcha' on us."

KL

Not brilliant quality but see the track and drive sprocket on this Jagdpanther from 3 minutes in to 3.30.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTE-X1Yg4MY

The AAV7A1 has a bind guard aft of the sprockets to prevent the track from climbing between the sprocket and #1 support arms.

No, by this point I had learned my lesson and put all the documentation of real life up front. I had gotten gigged on "unrealistic " weathering by judges while the tank veterans present praised me for getting it right. So after that, I had photos and diagrams.

Model building doesn't always reflect the reality it purports to use as its inspiration. It's an art and exaggeration and stylization are the norm, not portrayal of reality.

Dead track gaps and flows all over the place far more expressively but it still follows the same rules of motion that live track does. Live track had built in resistance whereas dead track doesn't so it flies all over. Look at videos of T-34 maneuvers, lots of war movies use them.

But poor track maintenance on live track can lead to it showing the same behavior. That's when one had to get out the string, ruler and little joe wrench and measure and adjust the tension. I actually added the end connectors tied with string to a bustle rack load on a kit. A couple of vets picked up on it.