As somebody said, there was a lot of copying went on — and still does.
The manufacturer was a Taiwanese company whose main line in manufacture was sewing machines.
About the time that it became clear that Tower was going to stop selling them, I tracked down the company and was told that they would alter the marking on the side of the crankcase to anything that would fit for an order of 1,000 units.
I asked several people both here in Australia and in the US but the minimum order of 1,000 units was the killer. I was pondering whether a 46 — achieved like the LA — might be a possibility.
I put it down as an interesting research project but that was all.
I never found out whether the company responded to an enquiry from Tower or whether they had decided that they might make it anyway.