Not true, distilled kerosene does not work. It doesn't matter how long it's held at the right temperature. And it does solvate the imine.
Altough i do agree with Rhodium, could you clarify how you observe that the rearangement did not work?
Also the compound does not need to bee solvated for it to thermally rearange, in fact the ethyl benzoate does not dissolve the methylketimine.
http://www.meta-synthesis.com/webbook/13_lab-matrix/LAB_matrix.html (http://www.meta-synthesis.com/webbook/13_lab-matrix/LAB_matrix.html)
Post 487721 (https://www.thevespiary.org/talk/index.php?topic=9160.msg48772100#msg48772100)
(Vaaguh: "steps 5 to 10", Methods Discourse)