You can get it to spark by having the points closed (on the flat of the hexagon) and just open and close them with your fingernail with the ignition on. you should see a little spark at the points, and if you have someone hold the high voltage wire from the coil with the boot pulled back near the block, you should see a big spark.

A little care is required or the high voltage wire will bite ya.
Just a little test to see if everything is working. You are of course bypassing the distributer cap when you do this.

Kurt