The Red Snapper was designed and made to be a Disaster Rescue Suit. This was one of the several suits of armor in Iron Man 3 that JARVIS sent to help fight Aldrich Killian and his Extremis soldiers.
As far as first models go, the original Iron Man armor (built in a cave with a box of scraps) was a pretty great start for the entire journey. After Tony gets home, however, he can’t help but try to ...