And if you really have trouble, something I have done in the past to remotely light bonfires (to the amazement of onlookers.... hmmm.... get better onlookers) is to have your filament (I used steel wool) wrap around a match head. Sometimes this would ignite the thermite, sometimes not, but using a primary, secondary, tertiary system of match head, sparkler, thermite, was 100% reliable. It's probably not really helpful, but it may give you ideas. Also, 3 sparklers bound loosely together with leccy tape burn really fast. I first entered backyard rocketry with cardboard tubes stuffed with sparklers.
In fact...
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn6F2kKg_RE"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn6F2kKg_RE[/url]
Heh... more embarrassing to re-watch than I expected.
Edited by Nikko, 08 April 2013 - 04:29 AM.